I still remember the walk back to my seat after my first critique. Four steps that felt like forty. In this talk, I want to share what happened in that moment — and everything that came after it. As a first-year design student, I have learned more from being told my work was not good enough than from any brief, any lecture, or any tutorial. This is a talk about feedback, identity, and the uncomfortable but necessary process of separating who you are from what you make. Because the day I stopped taking criticism personally was the day I actually started becoming a designer.