It happens to us all; that person who blasts us out of the blue and leaves us standing there without a clue of what we done to provoke the attack.  It might be a friend or family member.  For those of us that work with the public it is often a customer or client.

We call up others on the phone that can help us process what was said and our feelings. (as we should) We might blast our anger on Facebook.  We may tell everyone we think might lift us back up what happened so they can do just that.  We tell parts of the story to strangers. We reread the letters, notes, and text messages again and again.  We show them to others.  We do the same with the voice mails.  We keep playing it over and over in our heads trying to figure out what we did wrong.  We stay awake in the dark trying to figure out what we should do now.  Blaming ourselves for something that most likely had very little to do with us.  We talk to the dishes in our sink telling them how we don’t deserve this treatment.  Then tell the interior of our car that we do.

If someone gives us a compliment.  We may say thank you.

And you wonder why that one negative comment becomes more important to you that the 1,000 compliments.  Because you made it more important.

You here by have my permission to:   Tell everyone about the great compliment you received.  To brag about it on Facebook.  To post the messages on your frig.  To save the voice mails to listen to on rainy days.  To play it over and over in your head.  To smile about it in the dark before falling asleep.  To blame yourself for it!  To enjoy it over hot dish water.  To sing in your car.  And to believe you deserve it.