Today's post is all about the best compliment we've ever received, something I'm really struggle writing about. For as long as I can remember I have never been very good accepting compliments. Some people have said that it's a very British quality where as other have told me that it's an issue only girls seem to have. Personally I think it's a combination of a few things.
Firstly, no one wants to appear to be arrogant or big headed. While I agree that arrogance is not exactly a desirable quality it's important to be able to accept compliments and also acknowledge when you're good at something. And let's face it, it is so annoying when someone who is obvious talented or attractive etc. spends most of their time telling people how useless or ugly they are. There is a huge difference between confidence and arrogance, we need to remember that and find our own balance.
Obviously there are people who generally don't believe the compliments they receive and that is really sad. It's hard to accept a compliment when you don't see and reality in it. I know I have been guilty of this many times and it's something I'm trying to work on. Even if you can't understand why someone is giving you a compliment it doesn't mean that they don't truly believe in what they're saying. It's a hard thing to accept, but it can really help boost your confidence.
Over the last year or so I've been trying to get better at accepting compliments but I'm still noticing that I find it a lot easier in certain areas of my life than others. For example, when I was told that my dissertation was very interesting or that my adviser liked my style of writing I was more than happy to accept the compliments and even discussed what I was writing about in more detail. However when one of the managers at work said that my hair looked nice I shrugged off the comment saying that I was just too lazy to brush my hair that morning.
Despite being really self conscious about my intelligence and spending far too much time worrying if people think I'm stupid, I've always been reasonably confident in my academic ability and as such have never really struggled to accept compliments in that part of my life. When it comes to my appearance, however, I've always found it very difficult to accept and even believe the compliments that people have given me. This is incredibly frustrating as I find it annoying when the people I compliment refuse to accept what I tell them. Nevertheless it's something I've been working on and the more I read about self promotion and being confident in yourself the easier I find accepting compliments as opposed to assuming that they're all lies.
But back to the point of today's post, what is the best complement I've ever received?
Honestly it's a difficult question to answer. For me, people actually reading what I write on this blog is a huge compliment. I never except people to read what I write, let alone interact with it, so every time someone reads this blog or posts a comment I feel so honoured. It sounds like a bit of a cliché, I know, but when you think about how many blogs are out there and how much time people invest in reading them it's pretty scary to think that some people actually think that your little corner of the internet is worth visiting.
I'd love to know what the best or most touching compliment you've ever received is. Do you find it hard to receive them or can you accept compliments and appreciate them for what they are?
