Monday, May 24, 2010

#84 Accept a Compliment Without Responding with a Self-Deprecating Comment

I put this task on the list because this is a hard one for me. Unless it is my wedding day or a day that has been spent completely glamming myself up, getting my hair and makeup done and whatnot, it is hard for me to accept a compliment. It is also hard for me when it comes to non-physically related compliments. I am just always very compelled to respond in a way that downplays the compliment. I am not really sure why I am wired that way but I don't think it is always appropriate. I do know that part of the problem is that I don't often receive a compliment with which I agree. I find it very hard to say thank you in those cases because I feel like saying thank you says to that person that you agree with the compliment. And then sometimes you can tell when someone is complimenting you just for sake of conversation and other times you know that it is genuine. I am trying to get better about accepting compliments that I consider to be genuine.

I consider this task completed because when I was pregnant I received a lot of compliments about how I looked and how I was handling pregnancy. One of my favorites was, "You are the same Jill, just with a big ole belly!". I had a great pregnancy with very few complaints and even though I gained a little more than 30 lbs, I felt like I looked good pregnant. It was so nice never worrying about looking fat, never having to suck in my belly, never having to think that anyone was thinking I was eating more than my share so that probably played into my confidence. I accepted the compliments about how I looked maybe because I agreed most of time. Looking back as I was trying to think if I accomplished this task while I was pregnant, it was pretty cool to realize that it was a really nice time in my life and I'm glad that I was able to embrace it fully and truly enjoy it.

2 comments:

  1. I have trouble accepting compliments without saying something negative in response too. I think it just takes practice, so I'm working on it like you.

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  2. Reading this made me so happy. You were such a beauuuuuutiful pregnant person...but I think you're always beautiful so there!

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