I set my mustache on fire while trying to figure out the wording here...

[michael clubb]

  Once again, I am thinking to darn much but it's part of my job. Anyway, when you praise a person for a job well done, when you say that you look up to them because of their accomplishments, has it ever occurred to  you that you are piling on the pressure for them to continue? That you are saying "Don't let me down because I'm following you." In such a case, you do not allow respite. Or so I wonder. What do you think? Oh, by the way, I smoke. That's how how I set my mustache on fire.

[Slim]

I think the pressure equals out with the gratification they get from the acknowledgement.  I'm sure this gets skewed, but not everyone's at the top of their game forever.  There is sometimes great satisfaction in just ignoring that pressure and living the life you want to lead rather than the life others want you to lead.

I smoke too, that's why I decided not to grow a mustache.

[michael clubb]

G'mornin' Dodger, 

ya know what, I compliment people too. As a rule, I go on line and go straight to management with the employee, the situation, and the excellent service he/she provided. Large companies are used to getting complaints so when you compliment, they are amazed! I get letters, emails, and free stuff. I even got a free carton of cigarettes from Winston! But, I'm thinking of a different type of pressure. It's kind of like the pressure that a beautiful girl feels. She knows she is beautiful and everyone has told her so all of her life. Every time she goes outside, people keep telling her that. They expect that beauty every time they see her and so she is never allowed to look like shit! She ends of having being a slave to it and in the end will do anything to keep it because that is all she has. Aw hell Dodger, this is a bad example of what I'm trying to talk about but, being an artist, do you feel the pressure of proving it? "You're only as good as your last piece" kind of pressure?  

[michael clubb]

Dodger, my son is an artist who hasn't done anything for several months now. He writes me: "Who cares? Maybe i'm not an artist. what's the point? Maybe all of this is just plain stupid." He's thinking of taking a job as a teacher. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is just to let you know that I can empathize with what you've said. It's a bitch to question your own reason for life.

[Slim]

Artists seem to have an over abundance of emotion.  It spills over into their work and is able to manipulate the viewer.  I think that's why we find it so fascinating.

[Slim]

Strong, really?  I find myself very easily manipulated when it comes to art.  It can bring me to tears if it hits the right chord.

[Bob Stepp]

Wow....reading the last two posts of DD and Michael was like looking inside my own head. During my years of operating a photography studio I secretly thought if I could make a living on compliments I would never charge anything else. And yes, always, always, I measured myself almost strictly by my last wedding or portrait sitting. And.....yes sometimes by the amount of the last re-print order.

Beauty is always in the eye of the check book holder.

Thanks for the thread Michael....

[Slim]

I think everyone feels that pressure from someone.  If not 'the world' in general, just from people in their personal lives.  Parents for example, or teachers.

[Stir Young]

Oh, I don't really think many people would get stressed out over receiving heartfelt praise for doing a good job, or a good deed.  I've been on both sides of the equation, and I would say receiving kudos indicates that one gets it....he or she is getting with the program, and that most often would mean smoother sailing than not getting with it.