Appreciation circles. Who doesn't love them? Who isn't afraid of them?
Musical theater camp was coming to a close, and we were all sitting around a table, snacking on slightly stale fruit snacks. Dutch was actually being kinda quiet, a rare occurrence. Gotta love hyperactive 9 years olds.
Something that is always awkward is how uneven the amount of hands going up for different people is. Our teacher tried to lessen the blow by moving on quickly whenever someone gets too many or too few willing testimonies of their awesomeness, but everyone can tell.
I felt really bad for Dutch, because not very many people were willing to appreciate him. Almost everyone hates him. Basically everyone but me.
Isabelle was really ungrateful for her turn. She had already been appreciated earlier in the camp because of her birthday, and so for some reason she thought more compliments was too much, and so she sat slumped down in her chair with a scowl on her face as we all tried to be nice.
I had something to say about everyone, because you've gotta be fair, right? And when it was my turn they all said really nice things, and the teacher moved on quickly because too many hands were up. . . is it bad that I'm happy that so many people liked me when others were being excluded and hated? I wish we could all just like each other.
The problem I have with these appreciation circles is figuring out how to act in reaction to a compliment. Is is too arrogant to smile and say thank you? Is it too rude to just shrug and not make eye contact? Is it not appropriate to be modest to the point of being self-deprecating and denying the compliment? I have no idea.
Do they call that social anxiety? That's probably way more serious and definitive, though. I'm most likely just one of many that are a bit scared and out of their comfort zone in social situations that are new or involve new people.
Anyways, I'm sure everyone is happy with the compliments they received, and I'm sure it wasn't as awkward as I thought.
