''I love your nails’’ a lady complemented me as I was walking to my respective class on the school hallways. ''you have my dream body'' said my English teacher. Is it just me or do you also love complements? Be it from strangers or friends and family. A compliment goes a long way in boosting someone’s mood. I remember on that particular morning I was in a dull mood. Those days when you just wake up and decide not to talk to anyone. These compliments immediately livened me up.
The power of compliments
In a world where people are held back by their insecurities, a compliment can go a long way in neutralizing this behavior. Employing a culture of genuinely recognizing and appreciating someone's beauty is something we humans tend to bypass. We are always focusing on the lack of.
I’m always insecure about my face. I wasn’t blessed with the smooth, spotless skin that some of my friends have. I frequently get visits of acne and rashes so when someone compliments my smile, I tend to forget about this insecurity. I love it when I see people spreading encouragement especially on social media. Trolling has become a major contribution in catalyzing the degree to which we treat our insecurities. Someone because of a mean comment on an uploaded picture may say ''Because someone said I'm fat, I will now blame my body and myself for being useless''.
I remember when I was in High school, I would nag about my skin to my mum and beg her to buy me face scrubs, masks and all products that I would yearn for whenever I saw advertisements on the mainstream. They really attract us with their fair skinned models and how their lives seem to have advanced because they are using a given product. My mum would simply be a 'mum' and encourage me that my spots are beautiful and that she envies them. Keep in my mind my mum has light and fair skin tone so it didn't always sit well with me when she said this. Maybe she said this so that I may either feel special or so that she may not spend thousands on products that don't put food on the table. For whatever reason it was, her words made me feel unique, special and blessed.
With time I noticed we worry about the qualities we lack which we believe would have transformed us to be the 'perfect' human beings. We are the ones who give our insecurities a voice. A voice to either judge or encourage. A voice to hate or cherish ourselves. A voice to make or break. Do remember that you are representing the image of God. We were the last in the chronological order of the events of creation and this shows how God spent time and payed close attention to how this human being would appear. The beautiful skin we cut with knives when no one's watching, the luscious locks of hair that fall of from our scalps due to the depression that haunts us and the wrinkles on our skins that carve sad stories to tell all depend on the voice of our insecurities.
Is your insecurity encouraging or demoralizing RAIRgem.
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