I had a bad talk with my boss!

Take it professionally, not personally.

oh man.. this is something that will take some time to process your feelings. Try to talk to someone you trust. Focusing on the positives in your work or setting realistic goals for yourself could also help. Remember, it's okay to feel upset, but try to focus on moving forward. How can you apply these strategies to your situation and improve your mood?

Yrrr take some time for self-care, talk to a friend or family member about this. Can anyone please suggest some strategies for managing stress and improving your mood under such situations?

Business has two main reasons to hire people - revenue generation (potential profit) and risk mitigation (loss of revenue/profit). When a manager tells you where you can improve, they still believe you can do one of those things. Tough conversations are healthy. (But not fun) If they’re giving you feedback that’s a good sign. Take it and learn from it and assume your manager is trying their best. The role of a manager is super hard, and often they’re not provided much training on now to coach and lead their team.

Depends where in the world you are, and the organization culture of where you work. I’ve been fortunate enough to work for corporates where this isn’t the case. Managers do care about their team. Altruism? Not always, as the success of the team reflects on the ability of the manager - great team = path to career progress etc.

The fact that they took the time to give you honest, and apparently true feedback, is extremely positive, view it that way. Learn from it, thank them for the frank and honest conversation. Tell them that even though it 'hurt' you really appreciate it.