In praise there is more importunity than in blame. Why?

Blame is a finished transaction, but praise is the beginning of a negotiation.

Blame usually creates distance. Once the argument is over, or the compensation has been made, the interaction is mostly over.

Blame allows for growth or at least gives you a "nothing left to lose" freedom. Because it is direct, it tells you what's wrong.

Praise, on the other hand, creates a social debt. When you're praised, you're expected to be humble. You now have the reputation to keep, which is already a new sort of pressure.

It also traps you into a specific identity. When praised, you're getting a lable in a way that doing something against that label seems like "a betrayal of your own character".

Praise is also a delivery mechanism for a request. It demands a continued state of being that sometimes serves the person giving the praise.

The worst happens when it turns into flattery.

I don't like being praised for the reasons above, and also I don't know how to respond to it.

So uncomfortable is it that I'd rather run a half-marathon, soaked in sweat, instead.

P.S. "Importunity" means troublesome persistence or hidden demands.

The very first line in this post is of Nietszche. More on quotes and citations later.

@temursolief