Criticism of your essay isn’t criticism of your soul. Separate the paper from the person.

A judgement about work is a judgement about work. When something you made comes back marked, it lands as though the marking were about your worth, because effort and identity get tangled while you are making things. Separating them is a skill, not a natural reaction.

Read criticism twice. First for the feeling, which you can have and then set down. Second, a day later, for the actual instruction, which is usually smaller and more technical than it felt. Fix the paragraph. Leave yourself out of it.