Hi Galen, I am glad to read this good news and hope you are now fully recovered from the man flu. I have never blamed others for what happens to me, for better or worse.
I differentiate criticism from other situations I have experienced of exclusion and harassment. criticism makes me grow, and the biggest critic I have is myself, and in places that don't want me, I just leave.
With discipline and at an age when most people accept that their future is already written, 28 years old,.... I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was working at night to study the career that opened other doors for me.
Greetings