Stand Up and Receive Your Applause

It’s not always easy to recognize someone who has trouble receiving, but sometimes it’s obvious. A sure sign is when in a group setting certain people are asked to stand up and be recognized for something they did – complete a project, volunteer for an event, even have a birthday. Rather than just stand there and be recognized, they applaud the other people who are standing. This gets me crazy. Do they really think the other people aren’t getting enough applause, that somehow the recognition will be incomplete without theirs? Is it that they’re just an extremely thoughtful person? Maybe, but I think it’s actually that they’d rather be giving than receiving.

Think about what’s happening here. Where is the person’s attention? If they’re applauding, it’s most likely to be on the other people standing. If we don’t notice what we’re being given, we really haven’t received it. Now we’re back to the giver (those seated applauding the others) not having their gift be received. The other outcome is that other people standing see these applauding standers and they begin to feel uncomfortable – so they start applauding. I’ve seen occurrences in church where everyone is applauding: all those seated and everyone standing. It’s as if no one is being recognized.

Of course, if only one person is being recognized, they really can’t start applauding. If they did, they’d be congratulating themselves – heaven forbid! In those cases, the people who are most uncomfortable receiving don’t stand. In fact, they slump lower in their seat and look down, hoping the attention will cease. It’s painful to watch.

I challenge you to be aware of this tendency. Next time you’re called out and recognized for something, please just stand up, smile, and soak it in! Do this, if it’s just you or if it’s entire group being congratulated. If you need some help with this, join Toastmasters. One of my favorite things about this organization is that they are forever applauding someone. It’s almost always an individual, so people quickly get used to being applauded. They either have to get over their discomfort or resign themselves to feeling it frequently.

There is so much criticism in the world today. Let’s do our parts to reverse this by graciously, gratefully, and completely receiving everything we’re offered, including applause.