I Enjoy Being a Girl...

You know, as frilly as this song is...it really describes the way I feel at this moment:

When I have a brand new hairdo
With my eyelashes all in curl,
I float as the clouds on air do,
I enjoy being a girl!

When men say I'm cute and funny
And my teeth aren't teeth, but pearl,
I just lap it up like honey
I enjoy being a girl!

I flip when a fellow sends me flowers,
I drool over dresses made of lace,
I talk on the telephone for hours
With a pound and a half of cream upon my face!

I'm strictly a female female
And my future I hope will be
In the home of a brave and free male
Who'll enjoy being a guy having a girl... like... me.

Yeah...that's right...Novel Concept is really female. Surprise! Or not. :)

Anyway, Uffish and I have talked about this before. Girls (and guys too, I suppose, though I don't have any personal experience there) look good when they dress up mostly because of the way it makes them feel. When a girl wears a formal dress...the dress itself isn't really that pretty...and a lot of them are just difficult to wear, and uncomfortable to boot. The thing that makes the girls excited about them is the fact that they FEEL prettier. This means that whether or not they actually look any better than they do on a regular basis, they have more confidence, more happiness, and more excitement about the way they look because they think they actually look better. They walk taller, carry themselves with a better air about them, and smile more. Attractiveness is probably about 95% attitude--not in-your-face-don't-mess-with-me attitude, but charm, charisma, and being all around pleasurable to be around.

I used to think that putting any effort into the way that you looked was vain. I always wanted to be kind of like those girls in high school who are pretty and fun and popular, but I always told myself that I was being more real somehow, that I was being genuine, and that someday, I would be able to know that I had found the right guy by the fact that he would be overwhelmingly attracted to me no matter what--that I could walk down the street in my frumpiest pajamas having not showered for a week and he would somehow just know that I was the right girl for him. Me, in all my unwashed glory, could somehow be truer to my inner self by focusing solely on developing the inner qualities that counted, and then I could pray that the Holy Ghost would be the one to make up for any outer shortcomings that I might happen to have.

I think I also hoped for the classic ugly-girl on the weekday and then asked out on a pity date by the guy she likes and suddenly she shows up for the date and blows the guy away with her gorgeous contact-wearing, make-up bearing, stylishly clothed self and they fall madly in love because he knows her personality and now he's attracted to her to boot.

Sorry folks, but even having the spirit with you can't make it so that your outer physical appearance isn't entirely distracting. I've since greatly modified my views on the matter. While I still hope that my husband won't end up being completely repulsed by me even if we go for a week of camping and I'm wearing a cut pillowcase as a bandana to hide my unwashed hair that's still too short to put into a ponytail or french braid, I certainly don't expect that being an unwashed individual will allow them to become more focused on my radiant and sparkling personality...because it just doesn't work.

Physical appearance is something that's actually important. I still don't think that it's entirely necessary to spend hours getting ready to go to class, or that you even need to do a whole lot at all. I try to keep it to the basics--a shower, clean clothes, and a smile. Basically, I've come to think that you don't have to dress to wow people, but you should dress to make sure that you don't detract from your personality, or from people's desire to get to know you. Why do you think that missionaries have to wear suits, and keep a clean appearance? It's so that people think they're respectable, and don't discount what they have to say based solely on their appearance.

Anyway, I'm sure you all really wanted to know about this, but it's something I've come to realize the import of...and so I thought I'd share it.

Moral of the Post: Look respectable so that people are willing to get to know you and don't think you stink.

The end.