Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
-- Omar N. Bradley

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

An Unusual Power of a Compliment

A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil.  -- Victor Hugo

Yesterday I went out to lunch with a bunch of my female colleagues from work.  A few of them don't see me as often and complimented me on how good I looked, etc.  Lunch was good - mmmm - Mexican food.  I had a couple beers, lots of chips with cheese dip and table-side guacamole, and enchiladas with chicken and chorizo in a tomatillo sauce with wayyyy too much cheese.  Obviously I don't always eat this way - but it was a special occasion and I did stick to many of my eating tenets...no margaritas (too much sugar), no wheat (except beer, which I don't count...call me a hypocrite), plenty of protein. 

As we were leaving, one of the women in my group came up to me and said - "You are getting so teeny tiny - I'm so happy to see that you actually do eat and drink."  Hmmm.  That hit me in kind of a weird place.  I worry all the time about how much I eat and drink -- but not that I don't eat...I worry that I eat or drink too much.  Most of the time.  It seemed odd that someone would think that I don't eat or drink.  

And then what was intended to be a compliment actually made me start to feel really bad - I obviously did eat too much yesterday.  I actually got a little angry at myself for eating too much.  So I ended up not feeling like eating dinner, which I assume was more mental than anything.  How could something as simple as a compliment throw me so far out of whack?

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