How To Accept Kindness

Picture yourself walking down the hallway of your school in between classes. You’ve just given a presentation in your last class—a presentation you worked extremely hard on—and while you’re walking, one of your classmates approaches you and says: “Hey, you did a really great job.” What’s your initial reaction? Do you:

• (A) Say “thank you” out loud, but think to yourself, What does this person want from me?
• (B) Say something along the lines of, “Oh, not really. I messed up on this one part,” because you don’t want the person giving you the compliment to think you’re stuck-up.
• (C) Let the compliment sink into your skin, warm up your heart, and validate all of the hard work you did to give the best presentation you could, then thank the person—genuinely—and move on with your day.