Accepting Compliments

Have you ever really thought about how you take a compliment?  This is something that I have been working on (well on and off).  If you are like me, so often when someone compliments us we brush it off “Oh it was nothing”, “I had a lot of help” or somehow we try to convince the person giving the compliment that they must be insane.  It’s kind of like when you spend the whole week cleaning the house for company and when they get there the first thing you say is “Sorry the house is such a mess!” When you are really thinking “I have worked my a$$ off on this house you better notice how clean it is!” It’s a good thing people really are not mind readers sometimes.  Why is it so easy to dismiss a compliment but the minute someone says something negative it must be gospel?  I have something that I have been working really hard at for quite a while and I hear great things about it, then one person who knows nothing about this project smarts off a derogatory comment and it has me stewing for weeks.  When I get a compliment it puts me on cloud 9 for about 20 seconds just long enough for me to say how it could be better and then one negative comment that I know is crap hangs there for weeks.  Does this make sense? Absolutely not!  How do we get this way? Or a better question is how do we change this way?

This same habit plays havoc on many things in our lives including our quest to be healthier.   It seems like sometimes you can loose 30 pounds before someone takes notice and the minute they do… the first thing we say is “I have got a long way to go” When we should be saying “Thank you it is not easy but I am working on it and I feel great thanks for noticing” Now when you slip a little and gain back 5 pounds or wear the wrong outfit that just isn’t that flattering and someone comments “wow she/he is really packing it back on” Even if you have not gained anything back your confidence takes a nose dive and your progress slows or even vanishes.  Or maybe you had gained a little back it is so much harder to start again because you have that one comment lingering and it must make you worthless. (That was sarcasm by the way) Well guess what! You are probably being harder on yourself than the person making the comment and the only person who can value your self worth is your self.  Words are just words your thoughts give them meaning.  Making healthy changes or working on a project are likely to always need improving but the progress you have made is outstanding!  The day we stop improving or learning is the day we die.  I am not ready to call it quits just like I am not going to let this comment slow me on the road to success.  It doesn’t matter where you have been or where you expected you would be, you are what you are right now and you are shaping your road for the future.  It is your choice and only your choice of what kind of road it will be.