GatorBytes
What Price Vanity?
By Ms. Gator Bytes
Mar 22, 2000, 18:33

Even if you work at a menial job, if you are going to the grocery store, if you have to open the door to pay the lawn maintenance man, take the dog for a walk, let the dog out and the unfriendly neighbor might catch sight of you (probably to complain about your dog) -- would you do any of these or a plethora of other outings/sightings without spiffing up, just a bit? Personally, I'd never leave my room without a dash of eye drops, a slash of eyeliner, a dot of blush and maybe a smear of lip gloss.

Actually, I think the stress involved in self-vanity might not be comparable to the SlimFast Diet (it has nutrients), but it probably burns off calories from mini-hyper-stress/activity and a revved-up metabolism.

I've found that women go through four distraught vanity stages.

Their hair: too thick/too thin, too long/too short.



Their hair color: too dark/too light/too mousy/too streaked.



Their bodies: too big/too small, just developing, not developing, overdeveloping, blossomed.



Their facial specs: do they fit Vogue's specs of a 1-1/2-inch forehead, perfectly spaced eyes, nose to upper lip ratio, cheek dimensions, lip fullness, dominant/recessive earlobe design, ad infinitum?





The inherent question is: do we ever get over our concern?

The simple answer is, no. Now there may be a transference or lessening from vanity about body parts and appearance to tangible things. It is all about perception. How do others perceive us - from simply how we look to how we act to what we do to how we live. And we want it ALL. Of course.

So, knowing that in a flurry we can whip together an acceptable personal appearance for who and what we are about at any stage of life, what about the accoutrements? Recently, I had the pleasant experience of trying to define myself to loved ones, no less, and make THEM feel comfortable with the whole picture.

It came back to a simple truism about putting your best foot forward, because one would never do anything less. But it also relates to perspective. There is time to do, and a time to call it a day. After a long hiatus, my little family was coming to visit. I went into a frenzy of activity - some things I couldn't update (facelifts are VERY expensive); and others, let's call them home improvements, happily absorbed all of my time, energies (and those of friends) and bank account for a couple of months.

Fortunately, I have real friends, who are real people, who have a real grip, who suggested I do the same.

Now some household projects had just been neglected too long, and this was a perfect "excuse" to get them done. On the other hand, about the time I was fiddling with niff-naw items such as the design on paper napkins, one friend told me I had gone too far and repeated a simple truth: "I know you want to put your best foot forward, but you are already the best; and your family knows this. They are coming to see YOU. And they will love you any which way."

Point taken, and scored.

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