…ideally one that was both genuine and that you had the confidence and self awareness to interpret as kind. And for bonus points, what’s one you’ve given?

I’m thinking back to the guy in group therapy years ago who told me he always thought of people who swore as not knowing any better words, but that I obviously knew better words and just also swore and even used them artistically and that’s just really stuck with me. Sometimes I wonder how much of my self esteem has suffered not just because I’ve been told not to brag, but also because I’m extremely weird so the compliments I do receive often reflect that.

My bonus one (and I’m not sure how well he was able to take it) was that one of my fellow psych nurses was frequently and obviously terrified any time shit hit the fan, but that somehow still he’d never once failed to have my back. He’d be stuttering the whole way through an incident but I’d walk out of the med room with both halves of a B52 and he’d take one of the syringes without a second thought. He was literally the epitome of “courage isn’t not being scared, it’s being willing to face it.” I should find a nice presentation of that quote somewhere to send him because I’m not sure I phrased it well at the time.

  • Vanth@reddthat.comEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    A neighbor saw me walking barefoot to my mailbox and complimented me on my healthy feet.

    Hackles went up thinking he was some foot fetishist who was going to get weird on me. Nope, just a medical person of some sort that works with feet a lot and I genuinely have healthy arches and mobile toes. At least I choose to believe that explanation he gave. Otherwise, I have to assume my neighbor is jerking it every time I walk outside.

    • Apytele@sh.itjust.worksOP
      0·
      3 months ago

      I have to check people’s feet on admission, 50-50 to make sure there’s no contraband in their socks, but also genuinely to make sure there’s no gangrene or anything considering how many homeless diabetics come through. I’ve seen some feet alright. Nurses also frequently make “olive garden parmesan” jokes about the amount of skin flakes that come off (particularly older) people’s feet when you go to take their socks off. It’s so bad sometimes that you have to be careful not to breathe in or leave your mouth open when you do it because of how they disperse up into the air, except it can still get in your eyes, and you’re rarely expecting it.

      • Vanth@reddthat.comEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Well, I don’t know that my feet are that great but they aren’t shedding any sort of cheese.