Compliments are great. It’s wonderful having someone tell you your hair is beautiful today or that idea you have is brilliant. You have to admit, we all love receiving them. It’s the best feeling in the world!
We all want them. In fact, I think the world of social media even has us fishing for them sometimes. Remember the good old myspace days when you had to post “pc4pc” on every picture just because, well, you had to!
There is about a million moments a day that I am sure we want to compliment everyone around us. There are so many beautiful beings in the world. But we can’t. Why? Because when it comes to accepting compliments we become THE WORLD’S MOST AWKWARD BEINGS.
We will do almost anything to avoid outwardly accepting a compliment from our friends, let alone strangers. The list of deflections is exhaustive. We will deny the compliment, question it, dart a compliment right back, or even devalue our worthiness of receiving the compliment at all.
This weekend I told this girl I loved her shoes. She said “Oh, these things…” then went on a tangent about how she got them online at a sale for basically nothing. Only a few hours later, I was guilty of deflecting a comment, too. Someone complimented my hair. I immediately said, “Oh my. No it doesn’t I need to dye it so bad!”
To avoid awkward scenarios or potential risks of insulting someone that is just trying to be nice, I have detailed the perfect way to respond to a compliment.
1. Thank them. It really is that simple. There’s no better answer than “thank you” for the compliment you have just received.
2. Give credit if the compliment-er asks. Don’t worry about giving an entire history behind whatever it is the person is complimenting until they ask. Believe me, if I want to know where you got that brand new handbag I am going to pester you until you tell me, so I can have one for myself.
(Images via someecards)