We live in a world where people judge one another. This is not because humans are inherently mean; it’s just that we are naturally judgmental. We have to judge everything we encounter in our lives; if we didn't do this, then we wouldn't be able to tell if something is safe or dangerous. Survival of the fittest essentially relies on correct judgement.

In any case, there are those out there whose judgements go beyond the necessary realm of survival. We encounter people each day in our lives whose jealousy and/or insecurities push them to judge others and to elevate their own feelings by breaking down the feelings of those around them.

It is when these judgements turn into illogical insults that I start to become confused. Oftentimes, those who experience successes are the ones who experience judgement as well as the subsequent aspersions. Whenever I won an award or did something well in school, I was always faced with people who would try to devalue my accomplishment. The two insults that I would like to focus on though, were insults which never really made sense to me as having the purpose of being emotionally harmful. I was repeatedly charged with being an “overachiever” and a “try-hard” and I was repeatedly confused about why these labels were bad.

As I have previously stated, I think we can attribute a lot of the malicious judgement that we encounter to jealousy and insecurity. But, when you are so put off by someone else’s success that you bypass logic in an attempt to harm them, the whole thing becomes utterly ridiculous. This is what is happening when someone calls you a “try-hard.” They are literally trying to make you feel bad about putting effort into something and being successful as a result. Now, I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that such effort is a good thing.

Also, how is it bad to “over-achieve”? I see no negative side to doing all that you can to better yourself. You should not have to feel like there is something wrong with you simply because you want to push yourself to do well.

When you sit back and consider the logic behind these insults, you discover that there actually isn’t any. In all honesty, these charges should be taken as compliments, and that is how I like to look at them. If you are doing well enough that the only thing someone else has to say about you is that you try too hard and that you achieve beyond what is expected, then I think you are doing something right.

At the end of the day, it really is important to consider the root of the negative comments that come into your life because when you sit back and analyze the situation, you usually find that you do not have much reason to be offended. I’m a sensitive person; I know how easy it is to take something negative to heart when it is directed at you, but I promise that if you try to see the negativity for what it truly is, then you will be able to move past it and, all in all, live a much happier life.