Is accepting a compliment a breeze for you?  It’s definitely not one of my strong suits.  And I’ve started to ask myself why that’s the case.   I mean who doesn’t love a compliment about how they look, the outfit they’re wearing, or their work performance, right?  So why does it make us feel so uncomfortable?  I think for some of us (myself included), we struggle to believe the positive things people are saying about us.  We tell ourselves the person isn’t really being genuine.  Rather, they’re just trying to be nice.  That they don’t really mean what they said.  And we don’t like the focus or attention to be on us, even though it’s positive, so we quickly decide to dismiss the compliment giver’s opinion.  We’ll deny what they said and even end up putting ourselves down.  You know the drill.  A friend says, “I love your outfit.”  And you respond by saying, “It’s so old.  And it feels tight.  I really need to lose some weight.”  This kind of response only serves to downplay ourselves.  And it stands a pretty good chance of making the compliment giver feel bad, too.  We’ve all been there hanging in the balance as we extend a compliment that’s not well received.  It can feel awkward, to say the least, and you walk away feeling like you’re small act of kindness was rejected.  We may also think that accepting a compliment make us more humble or modest and we don’t want to come across as conceded.  But if we’re honest, most of us are eager to receive a compliment, especially from someone we admire and respect.

Graciously accepting a compliment can boost your confidence and improve your self esteem.  It also shows the person who extended the compliment that you appreciate them.  So for those of us who find this whole accepting compliment thing a real challenge, how can we break the cycle?  Where do you go from here?  I hate to say it, but I think it may be easier than we may think.  Maybe, just maybe, we pause and look the person in the eye and simply smile and say “thank you.” Or “thank you, I appreciate you’re kind words.” Nothing more.  Nothing less.  Are you willing to take the challenge?