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| Image courtesy of Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
I used to be terrible with compliments, I'd blush and brush them off, so I'm genuinely surprised I ever got any. I'm now a little better, I still find them a bit uncomfortable sometimes, but have at least learned to accept them graciously.
Most compliments nowadays are along the, "I like your shoes", or "your dress is cheering the office up today" lines. I get compliments from my husband, often when I'm feeling pretty rough and clearly need a confidence boost, and often retort that he only thinks that as he's partially sighted. I've still clearly not completely got the concept of accepting compliments graciously!
The best compliment I've ever received was in my first professional job. I'm not sure how it came up, but I remember the whole team sitting round in a meeting room. I guess we'd each been asked who the cleverest person we knew was. I can't even remember who I picked. I was however gobsmacked when another member of the team mentioned my name. Now, I'm fairly smart and switched on and good at my job, but I did horrendously at my A levels, and got an unimpressive degree from an even less impressive institution. The idea of me being the cleverest person anyone knew was literally beyond my comprehension. This was back in the days when I didn't know how to accept a compliment, so I think my response was to laugh and say they clearly didn't know many people; not very gracious. It was only when another member of the team waded in in back up, saying they thought the same, that I realised I'd probably been incredibly flippant and rude and apologised profusely. It probably taught me not to be so flippant with compliments, but I'm still not quite sure how they came to their decision!
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