Appearance

Oh just me lookin' super fine.

Sometimes when I walk in between my classes at school I look at people and make little judgements in my head. I try and figure out what they are thinking about, what there priorities are, or if they are even thinking at all. I start with their clothes, then their facial expressions, how they walk, and how they interact with their surroundings. Tight jeans tucked into boots, lots of makeup, and its 9 in the morning. This person cares about what they look like. They woke up even earlier to make sure that they looked this way. Sweats, a hoodie, headphones, greasy hair. This guy just doesn't care. He is going to class because class needs to be gone to. I noticed a few things.
1. People rarely smile: granted there is not much to smile about when you are late for a class that you have to take a test in.. but the vast majority of people wear these blank or slightly sad faces around.
2. Many people try extremely hard for attention:
Which makes sense, it's a social playground and people need to fight for attention. It's funny how people go about doing it. They will carry around a long board, hold an ipad, wear a low cut shirt. People just want a compliment sometimes.
3. Phones and Phones: If you aren't on your phone, you have headphones in. I would say that a good 70% of people I walk by are otherwise occupied by something. Not to say that I don't like to listen to music during classes, because I do. But every once in awhile I like to listen to the ambiance of the world around me. Try and pick up on bits of peoples conversations. It seems like people are just trying to get away from the world sometimes. Maybe that's why so many aren't smiling.

Today however, as I passed many an interesting folk, the thought struck my that I may not be the only person doing these mini judgements. I'm being judged. What message am I sending out in the hallways? Am I just a blip on someones radar or will I make an impression as I walk by?

So I tried an experiment. Everyone that I could make eye contact with I threw up a big cheesy smile. The results were expected. About half the people smiles and waved, while the other half kind of awkwardly smiled but were confused and avoided more eye contact. Its a fun experiment, and it definitely puts you in a good mood.

Our appearance really is an interesting thing. Sometimes all we want it someone to notice our haircut or new shirt because we spent so much time thinking about it. When I have a cold sore or acne it's all I can do to help from feeling self conscious. Our first impressions are always gauged by the way someone looks. Our mini judgements on the people around us at work or church are mostly based on appearance. So how much to we invest into it? One could argue either way, but these are my thoughts and this is my opinion. You aught to care for your appearance enough to be noticed by the people you want to attract. If I want to date someone high maintenance then I'd better start caring more about what I wear. I would also say that people in general should stop fishing for the compliment. Drop the long board, take off the sunglasses when you get inside, dress like an adult.

Rule of thumb: Think of the person you respect the most. Not the person you think is the coolest, or the hottest, but the person you respect. My bet is that if you model your appearance more towards their style that you will be a lot happier.

That's about it.