Today I’m sharing a post from a 20-something woman who had a beautiful insight on the power of giving unusual compliments. Molly Ford who writes her own blog, Smart Pretty and Awkward and also partners with me on our Flash Friday column, did a guest post on the blog Fueled by Diet Coke.
I ran across it recently and felt her insight was a gift. Molly was able to go back and look at the compliments she received when she was younger and came to the realization that while complimenting a woman’s physical appearance is nice in the moment, it’s the more internally focused compliments that are lasting and most meaningful. This holiday season let’s see if we can adopt her mission coming out of this realization: Give another woman one meaningful compliment each day.
Here is a bit of an excerpt from the post, The Importance of Receiving Compliments. Check out the full post at Fueled by Diet Coke
“I want women to start praising, flattering, calling out the good stuff in other women on deeper topics than fashion choices. And I want them to start doing it out loud, to each other, within earshot of other women. Every day.”
Compliments from others on your looks only reflect what the person looking at you can physically see. Compliments from others on intangible things reflect something more profound. For girls and young women, it is valuable and vital to our self-esteem to hear validation from other women about our choices not related to fashion. We can all start today: working on praising others on their peacemaking skills; their ability to proof-read complicated documents quickly; or their willingness to major in a tough field. What we admire and respect in other women is not related to their style choices; it is something more. And we should tell them that.