Compliments can feel awkward when being noticed conflicts with how you see yourself. If you are uncomfortable with attention, a sincere compliment may make you want to look away, joke, deny it, or immediately return praise. Sometimes the problem is not the compliment itself but the mismatch between another person's view of you and your internal picture of yourself. Someone says you handled a difficult situation well while you remember every mistake you made. Someone praises your appearance while you are focused on an insecurity. There can also be a history behind the reaction. People who were criticized frequently may become suspicious of praise, while people who were expected to stay humble may feel that accepting a compliment is arrogant. You do not have to force yourself to believe every positive thing someone says. But you also do not need to argue with every compliment. A simple “thank you” can allow the other person to have their experience without requiring you to make a grand judgment about yourself. Over time, receiving praise can become less about proving that the compliment is objectively true and more about accepting that someone noticed something they appreciated. If compliments consistently make you feel unsafe, ashamed, or exposed, it may be worth exploring what attention has meant in your past relationships.