I have a hard time knowing what to do with a compliment. Usually I offer an extremely introverted 'thank you' in response. If you want to see me squirm, just try it some day.
The odd thing is that, with my girlfriends, I'll use 'beautiful' and 'gorgeous' as nouns in my salutations. Perhaps I have become a little too flippant with this. Some days, sure, I think that maybe I've pulled the wardrobe and the hair together in some great package. Most days 'presentable' is simply good enough. So, what if, in the course of an average day, someone were to say you are very attractive or, even, you are gorgeous? Frankly I think I would want to argue the fact.
The same goes for work accomplishments. I've been told I'm highly accomplished, especially at my age. I've received national recognition from my peers...and folks wondered why I wasn't talking about it. I am just doing what I should be doing, what is expected. And if it's just expected then there's nothing to get overly excited about.
Expected. Maybe that's the key word here.
To the extent that young firstborn children are able to live up to their parents' high expectations, they reap precious rewards: praise and a sense that they really are special. They often become very skilled at knowing what their parents (and later, teachers and bosses) want them to do, and doing it.
Ironically, their very success often leads to anxiety: If being special hinges on performing up to high standards, what happens if they fail? To protect against this disaster, many firstborn children set even higher standards for themselves than their parents do, and, as a result, are rarely satisfied. Any success they achieve is not enough. Over and over, they must prove that they are not the failures they fear they might be. (Firstborns)