Like many folk up and down the country no doubt, yesterday I went for my Christmas Day haircut….no I’m not twelve, I’m a grown man ha ha. I had to book two weeks in advance so I know I’m not the only mad person who HAS TO LOOK PRETTY ON THIS SPECIAL DAY….the things we do at this time of year hey ha. Now due to me ringing up too late, my regular dishy(I’m not sexist really ha) stylist was fully booked so I had to make do with ‘mysterious Sue’ doing my hair…….ARGH. I think I knew who she was but wasn’t fully sure. I looked like a hedgehog with my overgrown TIN-TIN hairdo though so I just had to accept anybody doing it, needs must and all that.

Sue turned out to be the Manager of the Salon and I knew we were going to have a laugh when she proudly proclaimed upon hearing me state that I usually have Kim, “I’VE LOTS OF EXPERIENCE”…..I think I replied with a smirk and a chuckle. Thinking about it now post-haircut, I think she was being serious but I assumed she was just being naughty and deliberately using this double-entendre to be flirty, made me laugh whatever.  Anyway, as she started cutting my hair we got chatting away like they do with me(BECAUSE I CAN TALK LOTS TO ANYBODY ha ha) and it wasn’t long before she payed me a compliment. I was telling her about my life and she said, “God you’re so interesting”(I did do a double take in the mirror to see if she was winding me up ha ha). Then two minutes later another stylist popped into the room to ask Sue something and she turned to them and said, “God this guy is so interesting”. Seconds later she told me how she’s said to Kim after the last time I’d be in,  how I seem to be such a lovely chatty guy. I told Sue about me having OCD and how I still feel quite embarrassed admitting this to people. She was amazing about  it and made me feel so at ease, Saying “hey you shouldn’t, I think everybody has it a little bit….”. Every two mins she was paying me a compliment, it truly was such uplifting an experience. She praised and commented on my personality, how intelligent I came across,how amazing my auburn hair colour was, you name it she complimented me on it. I’m not used to receiving compliments so felt rather embarrassed by it all……IN A LOVELY, GOOD WAY I MEAN THOUGH. I tried to make a joke of her compliments(as not to appear bigheaded or arrogant) yet also thanked her very much too. Before you say, “I bet she says stuff like that to everybody”, maybe she does ans maybe she doesn’t…I don’t really care if she does if I’m honest I can smell superficiality and fakeness a mile off though, and these compliments that came my way certainly seemed genuine enough to me.

The haircut ended and as I closed the shop door to head off to the bus stop, I felt TEN FEET TALL with all of Sue’s compliments still ringing in my ears. Underneath my comedy banter and extrovert personality, I’m quite a shy, unconfident type of person. People burst out laughing when I tell them I think I’m quite shy ha ha ha ha, trust me I am……..A BIT anyway ha. As I walked to the bus stop it was then for the first real time in my life that I truly appreciated the ENORMOUS UPLIFTING POWER OF RECEIVING A COMPLIMENT.  It was strange, I felt like I’d just taken a ‘happy drug’ of some sort, without anything actually anything passing through my lips. I had this feeling of enormous positivity, I liked myself once again. I didn’t feel like this nutter with OCD(my thoughts) or this person who is fed up and tired of fighting health battles, I felt good about myself once again and have my hairdresser Sue to thank for making me feel like this last night.

Now I know the TRUE POWER of a compliment I am going to try to pay people more than I do already. I wear my heart on my sleeve so give compliments out now and again as it is, nevertheless I could do this more so………and from now I will. If you somebody needs a lift like I did last night, THEN I IMPLORE YOU ALL TO SWAMP THEM WITH LOTS OF COMPLIMENTS.  GO ON, RIGHT NOW, GET UP ON YOUR FEET AND GO AND PAY SOMEBODY A LOVELY COMPLIMENT. THEY’RE FREE TO GIVE OUT AND SOOOOOOOO LOVELY TO RECEIVE………JUST YOU WAIT TO SEE HOW GOOD YOU FEEL NEXT TIME YOU GET ONE!!!!!!