Off The Shoulder Top {sold out, but obsessed with this one and this one!}// Wide Leg Denim // Madewell Heels // Rebecca Minkoff Leather Jacket {see other options here!} // Valentino Purse {similar here and here}

There are definitely a few things I’ve gotten better at over the years. For one, I used to be really hard on myself {I’d like to apologize to my 17 year old self for being such a jerk to myself over and over again} and I thought I could never be cool enough, or pretty enough, or even smart enough to meet other people’s expectations. I’ve since given that up {for the most part!}, and have learned to appreciate myself a little bit more – and not hold myself to such impossible standards when I’m doing the best that I can do day in and day out 🙂

But one thing I do still have a hard time with is taking a compliment, no matter who it’s from or what it’s about. If a friend tells me I look pretty, I get red and respond with something silly like, “Eh, I’m okay.”, or if I get a compliment from a co-worker about a project I’ve been working on, I get embarrassed and say “It was no biggie”. Even when my boyfriend tells me that I look pretty {which gives me warm fuzzies every time}, I stop him and say “oooooh, ehhh…I look alright?” I don’t know what it is, but I have the hardest time saying “thank you!” whenever someone gives me a compliment, and just soaking it in and appreciating having a little love passed my way. Instead I curl up, get nervous, look away, and say something slightly embarrassing because I just can’t take the compliment. Anyone else in the same boat too? So I’ve been trying to get myself to snap out of it a little more, and accept compliments whole heartedly. Even if my first inclination is to mumble something stupid, I’ve been taking a moment to say “thank you so much!” and accept that someone was kind enough to go out of their way to say something nice about me. I don’t know why I always felt that I needed to feel embarrassed or dismissive of a compliment, and it’s like I’ve trained myself that in order to be humble you can’t actually take a compliment. And it seems like women have a harder time immediately accepting compliments – so I’m trying to be more of a badass and accept {and give out} more compliments whenever I can. Because I’m awesome, you’re awesome – we’re all awesome…and also, please accept my compliment 😉 So when my friend was looking over my shoulder the other day as I was going through the photos from a recent shoot with Alex Good, and told me that I looked pretty in this off the shoulder top – I took a moment, resisted the urge of saying “ewww no!” and simply said, “awwww, thank you!” instead. And it took more self control then what I was used to, but it felt pretty darn good to take it in, and appreciate her going out of her way to be so kind. Hopefully it will be more of a habit to reply “thanks!” the more I allow myself to take a compliment in the next few days, weeks and months.

Are you better than I am at taking a compliment, or did you have to train yourself too? If you have any tips for getting more in the habit of it, I would so appreciate it! xx