Highly specific question, I know.
When people compliment me, I genuinely don’t know what to do. It feels like they’ve given me a physical object, and I’m just standing there holding it awkwardly, but I don’t know what to do with it.
Complements and praise does nothing for me emotionally, so I just say “thank you”; in the same way you thank a kid that handed you a rock they found on the ground.
Like, I appreciate the sentiment — as in, I know they’re trying to be nice or something, so it doesn’t bother me. It’s just one of many small things that makes social stuff a bit harder. For example, I probably don’t give out any complements to other people, because it doesn’t occur to me as an important thing to do. I’m sure this has many effects in my life I’m not aware of.
That’s exactly how you do it, according to John Cleese, anyway.
I’m always deeply suspicious of compliments because they’re sometimes used to manipulate me, especially if it’s from strangers or people I only know superficially. But a brief “thank you, that means a lot” + an internal recalibration to find out what the fuck this person actually wants from me is what I usually do.