Ladylike :: On Accepting Compliments

I read this post recently, and it really got me thinking. It wasn't long ago that I was an insecure teenager (well, maybe it was a decade ago, but it still feels like yesterday). I was one of those girls who responded to a compliment with a complaint, usually about my hair or about how fat I felt that day. I guess it's just part of being a woman, or maybe just a young woman. I like to think that I've grown out of that tendency, but I guess it's not always true?

Photography :: Alyssa Armstrong

In reality, it's so easy to just say thank you. But how often do we really do it? I try, I really do, but there are still so many things about myself that I am self-conscious about. Sometimes the insecurities just outshine any semblance of confidence that I may have, which is absolutely terrible. It doesn't matter if someone compliments my hair; it doesn't necessarily change how I feel about my nose. Or my skin. Or my [insert body part here]. 

There's something so graceful about just accepting a compliment, no strings attached, don't you think? I do find myself saying thank you when someone pays me a compliment these days, and rarely do I comment in a negative way about myself. I know it's an unattractive response to the person paying me the compliment, so why can't I just accept it on my own, without it bringing me down even more than I already am? I may not always voice my insecurities out loud, but they are definitely there, screaming at me inside my head. 

I suppose accepting compliments with a polite thank you is enough, for now. But someday I hope that we all just love ourselves enough to truly believe it when someone says something kind to us. Because I know that it's true for you, so it should be true for me too.