Personal Style Part 2

About a week ago I was in the library at Cal State University San Marcos. I couldn't help but overhear a conversation between 4 girls that were sitting behind me. They were talking about someones cute baby and one of the girls said, "I was such a cute baby, but I grew up to be so ugly" Her friends giggled and their conversation went on.

Ouch.

It took everything I had not to turn around and give them my speech. But, it really got me thinking about young girls and our perception of ourselves. Being a teenager and into our early 20's is such a rough time on our self esteem and ego. We've been mostly let free from our parents, but aren't "grown up" enough to know who we really are (I'm 33 and I'm still trying to figure it all out). We are bombarded daily by ads about what is perfect, that we "need" to be thin, that we "need" to have a boyfriend. If you asked 100 girls how many of them think they are pretty, I would bet that maybe 5 or 10 would say yes. And if it was in front of others, I'm not sure if any would admit to it. Who made the rule that admitting that we are beautiful= being conceited? Doesn't conceited mean having an exaggerated sense of self-importance? People that have no sense of what being beautiful really is? People that really think they are better than others?

How I am relating this to personal style is that your style is so much more than the way you dress. It is an expression of your character. Like it or not, we live in a world where we are judged and first impressions are so important. If we walk around sloppy, uncomfortable and just a mess all the time, what message are we putting out of our character? AND, if we live our life in constant physical chaos, won't it come back and make our lives and the way we view ourselves chaotic? (I know, that's a mouthful.) Pretty soon, we are such a mess in every way, that we are getting back what we put out there, and we think, "This isn't good, and neither am I". BAM!

I guess this post was all over the place, but then again so was my mind when I was writing it. I suppose if someone is having problmes getting their life in order, if they get themselves in order on the outside, hopefully the rest will follow suit.