How do you live in alignment with your values and not feel insecure?

I'm feeling insecure when I get told "your such a good person", "your validating", "you're so kind"?

What does that even mean? Why a pedestal for basic human respect? Isn't that normal? Isn't kindness a choice? What about empathy?

I'm not even sure that I am actually any of those things. The more people say it, the more it feels fake.

I'm recognizing this bothers me because I am behaving empathetically. Empathy and kindness can coexist, but they don't always have to. I can be empathetic with my worst enemy, but I don't have to be kind to them.

Would love ideas on reflecting on this. I don't want to feel insecure for doing something that I believe in when most of the time, it isn't from kindness. The action is typically from empathy. Maybe they do coexist. But they are different to me.