Stop! Just Accept The Compliment!

Yesterday I ran into a new acquaintance.  Her hair looked particularly lovely and I told her so.  Immediately she launched into a tirade about how she needed to re-touch her roots, how she longed to do something different, how the….I care not to remember.  I told her, “Stop! Just accept the compliment.”

On the next day, I ran into a co-worker and commended her on a well written article.  She too blasted off about how she could have done better, how her structure had been off and how…I dare not to remember.  I also told her, “Stop! Just Accept The Compliment!”

Why do we as women fail to accept compliments?  We are quick to talk about how we easily denigrate one another, but find it awfully difficult, challenging and sometimes embarrassing to accept a compliment.  It’s not because we can’t tell if one is being hurled disingenuously, we know.  And if that is the case, we know how to deflect it.  But boy does it amaze me when, self-assured, confident women drown into a diminutive sea when one, especially another woman celebrates us for even a moment.

Yes, I say us, because I too find myself apologizing or explaining conditions for a compliment opposed to just saying Thank You.

Well let’s start a new campaign….Thank you.  Let’s practice….Thank you. 

The next time someone compliments us; let us resist the urge to wallow in the pain of how many times a compliment hasn’t been given or the severity of the swipe when one’s tongue has cut like a knife.  Instead, hear it, take it in, chew it, swallow and digest it.  Then simply say, Thank you, then use our tongue to love ourselves to life…..