i’m a 20 year old male. i’m not trying to sound cocky but i feel as if i’m a pretty attractive guy, but it’s rare that i receive a compliment that seems sincere and that they aren’t messing with me. anyways, it’s been 2 years since i’ve been in a serious relationship. we dated for about 2 and a half years and she cheated on me. it was obviously a very hard time in my life. to make things worse, i began dating another girl around 4-5 months after and she allowed me to get over my ex, but she cheated on me too. so, one problem left, but another one entered. what i’m trying to say here is that these past 2 years i have been very self-conscious and rarely hangout with my friends and just try to stay alone. i try to separate myself from people because i am terrified that i’m going to get backstabbed again. i’ve developed a horrible fear of getting close with someone because it has always ended badly for me. yesterday i was talking to some girl and she said a compliment that made me feel oddly happy. usually if somebody says “you’re hot” or “you’re cute” it’s a nice feeling, but i always feel as if they’re messing with me. it was such an oddly specific and unique compliment but it was nice. she said “if i was a guy i would want to look like you.” just kinda wanted to share this because for the first time in a long time i actually believed something that somebody told me.

tldr: got cheated on, got cheated on again by another girl, been really sad since, and then got happy from compliment.