It took me a while to finally just say thank you.

It got to the point that some of my friends would hit me and say, “Cat, just take the freaking compliment.” or they would just stop giving me them altogether. Up until recently they were wasting their breath. No matter how many times they told me I was beautiful, I would just shake my head no or say, “I just don’t see it.”

Of course they got tired of me and I finally thought that it was time to change my attitude. Nothing was going to change. I was never going to accept anything about who I was and what I looked like if I couldn’t even take a simple compliment. So I started to say thank you more.

Random people would say that I had an amazing smile, and instead of quickly closing my mouth, I would cheese harder and say, “Thank you, I had braces for four long years, some I’m glad the pain was worth it!” Or my friends would say, “Cat you look really good today.” and instead of shaking my head no, I would just simply say thank you.

It took a while to finally get comfortable with not just accepting the compliments, but to actually believe them.

I mean I have my days when I just can’t believe I look anything other than absolutely horrible. I have my super duper low moments, which are normally late at night, when I have gotten into my own head and am telling myself that everything anyone has ever told me was a lie. However, for the most part it is working. I can look at myself in the mirror and think that I look beautiful today. I can look at my body and not think I look disproportionate and fat (or even too skinny.)

It’s definitely a work in progress but if you keep at it you’ll find that accepting yourself will become a lot easier. It’s necessary for you to accept yourself, so that you can take the steps to love yourself. That’s the end game.

So accept those compliments! Let them love everything about you! It can definitely help towards you seeing those same things about yourself.

And of course I think you’re beautiful. So there.