seshat's blog post - Ambiguous feelings

When I read the story about my grandfather (blog entry below) out loud for my creative writing class, there was silence afterwards. Everybody seemed impressed, and one person even said that it was "a tough act to follow". And while gaining self-confidence is one of goals of the class, I am/was a bit confused as to how I should react.

On the one hand, all I wanted was to smile at the acknowledgment. On the other hand, should I be smiling after reading something as sad/gripping?
In a way, it bothered me that they asked if it was based on a real experience, because it shouldn't matter at all, good writing is good writing. But I guess the emotion just came through so clearly that it 'had' to be real.

I was hesitant when my boyfriend asked me how class had gone. I wanted to tell him about the positive comments, but it seemed like showing off at the same time. So I guess I still have some self-confidence to build up, to be able to simply accept compliments.
It's probably one of the most 'Belgian' aspects of my personality, the constant tendency to put myself down, to find excuses...

"Your English is great!"
"Well, I lived in the US for a year, only normal..."

"Those pictures you took of Norway were impressive"
"Ah, yes, it's not difficult with such beautiful landscapes"

"I love your shoes"
"Oh, those, they're old ones..."

My lesson from all of this: when receiving a compliment, just smile and say thank you!