.......................
...ideally one that was both genuine and that you had the confidence and self awareness to interpret as kind. And for bonus points, what's one you've given?
I'm thinking back to the guy in group therapy years ago who told me he always thought of people who swore as not knowing any better words, but that I obviously knew better words and just also swore and even used them artistically and that's just really stuck with me. Sometimes I wonder how much of my self esteem has suffered not just because I've been told not to brag, but also because I'm extremely weird so the compliments I do receive often reflect that.
My bonus one (and I'm not sure how well he was able to take it) was that one of my fellow psych nurses was frequently and obviously terrified any time shit hit the fan, but that somehow still he'd never once failed to have my back. He'd be stuttering the whole way through an incident but I'd walk out of the med room with both halves of a B52 and he'd take one of the syringes without a second thought. He was literally the epitome of "courage isn't not being scared, it's being willing to face it." I should find a nice presentation of that quote somewhere to send him because I'm not sure I phrased it well at the time.
I'm going to preface this with two things...
First, I realize it'll sound fake. And second, I'm pretty sure she was just trying to stroke my ego, but...
One of my first girlfriends was a little odd. She was smart, well-spoken, witty and knew her way around a clever turn of phrase.
After we had finished having sex for the first time, she fake coughed into her hand, held it up to me and said
"Oh look, my ovaries..."
I don’t get it, is she saying you’re well endowed?
Because this is the internet and you can just say you’re packing a huge hog. No one will really know or care.
Yes. Which is why I think she was flattering me. Because I'm really quite average as far as I'm aware. lol.