Throughout life you will meet a lot of people. Some may be similar to you, and others may not. It’s important to ground yourself in knowing who you are, so compliments from others (or criticism) does not phase you. We are sucked into a world where others opinions hold weight. We do things that are praised, so we start to feed into society. That’s the foundation of anxiety and depression. .
I use to go around being my authentic self and men would compliment me. It made me feel good but awkward at the same time. I felt I was being pulled to open up to them just because they were “friendly”. I feel men use flattery to loosen women up and get them to let their guard down. They want to come off as friendly and charming, but if they were authentic, they would not have to put on any airs. Once they see you eating up the compliments, they have control over you in a sense. I’ve seen men use flattery to make an impression that they are good people. They have ruined women lives, placating the good guy, and they gaslight, when in reality they have ulterior motives. Flattery is how they move through society. The same way they flatter you, they flatter majority of the women they run into. You probably don’t see it as flattery and think its genuine, when actually it’s everything but.
I have serious issues being flattered. I use to think people were being nice. I took compliments because, it’s “negative” if you don’t. Now, I realize I already know who I am. I don’t need sweet talk from men that don’t know me. I fell back in love with myself like how I was as a child. I realized I always knew I was great, (I don’t need anyone to tell me that). It wasn’t until I bit from the apple of what everyone else thought that I lost consciousness of what I thought about myself.
The Evolved Blog 