I've been getting a fair few compliments recently

- even saying that statement makes me cringe and internally berate myself for being big headed. I know that's the depression talking, the old me; this new, better me accepts compliments and uses them to firm-up its foundations instead of denying them entry and sending them back to their contributor. I used to be automatically coy and rejecting of people's positive comments because I never felt like they were true or I deserved them.

Since I got better, not only have I seen a marked increase in the amount of lovely comments coming my way but I've noticed I automatically let them in and take great pleasure from them. In the past three weeks alone I've had someone tell me I'm always happy and bubbly, another tell me someone else said the same thing to them. I've had three people say nice things about my writing which really gives me the warm and fuzzies. A couple of folks have complimented me directly, which is sincerely comforting. Finally, I've had quite a few really positive and motiving comments about the charity, the work I'm doing and the whole premise behind it, so much so that it feels I should be contributing much more time to the project. Even in the limited time it's been underway, I've had such wonderful metaphorical rewards that I can definitely see myself doing it full-time but as a charity it's not going to pay its way for a long time to come so I'll have to do it in my spare time for now. Even so, to have such rich rewards and have people complimenting the idea and my work is thoroughly satisfying and combined with a gentle stream of positive comments it's helping me feel pretty good about myself.

That people see fit to give me compliments at all suggests a huge improvement in my outward image and self-esteem over the past two years. I certainly feel much better than I have for probably fifteen years; maybe this is the best I've ever felt. If I've come so far back from the edge that people feel the urge to tell me good things they see in me, and I can let them in, isn't that just fantastic?

I'm aware I'm not just babbling but blowing my own trumpet pretty hard so I'll stop although as I've said before, if I can't big myself up and compliment myself on my own blog, where can I? I guess I just want to recognise and acknowledge how far I've come and the effect all my hard work is having on how people perceive me. It's just fantastic to see this nice person I've always known is inside me coming out to play.