A funny thing: a challenge!

Body image is a funny thing.  Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be some soapbox tirade about how commercials ruin women’s self esteem or how everyone is beautiful in his or her own way.

But this morning I found myself in the car, no external pressure or reason to be thinking this, but suddenly I was thinking about my “asymmetrical eyes” and wishing they were better matched.

That’s when I realized that this is something that I think really matter-of-factly about: on my worst days I even sometimes picture myself as wall-eyed.  I’m guessing that no one would call me that, or even pick on my eyes as being too small, or too narrow, or tell me that my eyelashes are too short and pale.  Yet these are all things that I sometimes hone in on when I look in the mirror or at a photograph.

Yesterday in rehearsal I overheard part of a conversation between two actors.  One (male) jokingly asked the other (female), “Well, do you like the way you look?”  After the slightest of pauses she replied “Um…sometimes, depends on the day.”

Now, this woman is like 5’10”, slender and blonde.  She has crazy long legs and big eyes.  I have been admiring her bangs for days.  But after I heard her say that, I wanted to pick her apart and figure out what it could possibly be that she wouldn’t like about her physical appearance.

The thing is, even if I could point to her and say “Her nose is too big” or “She has lopsided ears,” I bet the things she focuses in on when she looks in the mirror are not even things I could pick out.

Even Drew has mentioned things he would change about himself, things that I can’t see once he’s pointed them out.  So guys are not immune to this.

Body image is a funny thing. 

I have a confession.  (And I bet I’m not alone in this.)  Sometimes I stare in the mirror, but not in a negative way.  I admire things about myself, let myself obsess for five minutes or so about a feature I particularly like.  I feel like that has to be healthier than obsessing about something I can’t change anyway.

So if you dare, leave a comment with something you love about yourself.  Something specific and physical that you are really vain about.

I’ll even go first.  I am proud of my teeth.  I never had braces and they are really straight, and the right size for my face and for my mouth.  There, that wasn’t too bad.  Your turn.

Payback

I have kind of a grudge against our upstairs neighbors.  They can be loud, both speaking (shouting?) and stomping.  Plus they have this dog that loves to whine loudly, and run back and forth through the apartment, especially late at night.  For some reason that sound travels right through the floor, which you’d think the carpet would help.  This is not some New York City parquet floor.

Also, their dog definitely goes crazy barking at people when they take him out for walks, which bothers me, because we all lived here first.  We got a flyer from the office on our door yesterday reminding us that everyone needs to pick up after their dogs, and in my mind, I’ve accused the upstairs neighbors of making those flyers necessary.

So on Monday night I was getting uptight because of all the yelling, screeching, and pounding going on up there.  We finally realized it was probably a football thing, which meant it went on for like 4 hours.  Annoying!  Please don’t disturb our 2-hour game of Super Scrabble.

But last night we got sweet sweet revenge, when eight of us piled into our living room to watch (and loudly approve of) the season 2 premiere episode of Glee.  Take that, tough-looking upstairs neighbors.