Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A Quick Muse

Why do people often feel a need to put themselves down?
When and how did it become cool to say "I can't"?
How come usually when someone says "Thank you," or, "You're the greatest!" the other person says "It was nothing"?
Or if they say, "Wow, you're so thin!" the other says "Oh no, I gained weight this month," or just feels embarrassed?

On one side of the coin, it's not true. I can only speak for myself, but one would generally feel quite proud at receiving a compliment. This is true even when it's not deserved, but especially if you earned it. "It was nothing?" How about, "It was my pleasure, anything for you!" After all, what's the favor worth if you didn't put anything into it? And why can't we at least give the complimenter the pleasure of having made us feel good?

On the flip side, people start believing what they say. Keep on feeding yourself negative statements and you'll grow your very own negative self-image. Very unhealthy.

So, what's happened to us?

1 comment:

smb said...

sometimes people say, 'thanks for getting me this you didn't have to.' And so the other person says, 'it was nothing' meaning it's not a burden, they wanted to do it.

But like you said the phrase, 'it was nothing' sounds like they didn't put much into it. And so I agree. They should say, 'My pleasure' and show the complimenter that they appreciate their compliment.