When people criticize you, it can be hard to listen to. Criticism is negative communication after all, and we associate negative feelings to negative stimuli. This is magnified when it comes from people whose opinions we value highly (which can be the people closest to us or those furthest away, depending on who you are).

Usually a criticism someone lobs at you is simply a projection of what that person is seeing within themselves, and you just happen to be a convenient target. Lots of people avoid honest self-assessment because it's quite uncomfortable -- pointing out *what I need to be doing* makes me 100% accountable for doing it -- so we take that same assessment and pin it on others. It's easier, makes a person seem smart/caring/concerned, and delays the real work for at least another moment.

Don't emotionally buy into what other people say about you or to you. Most of the time, if you think about it and observe them, they're simply telling you what they're afraid to tell themselves.