Social Experiment - Learning New Things About Myself
I realize that I haven't kept up my part of the bargain as far as blogging several times a week. I apologize for this. The last few weeks have been grueling, to say the least. That's no excuse though, and I will get started on what I am learning from the book, Secrets of Charm, written by John Powers and published in 1954. I've learned some things about myself that I'm a little bit surprised by. Sometimes social experiments can be, well, uncomfortable. I thought that I would fall right in line and step with this, but it hasn't always been that easy.
In 1954, women(and often times men too), did not go anywhere without looking their best. I think that looking put together is always a good thing. I really do. That doesn't mean that I'm good at it though. Like I said in my previous post, I am a jeans and tee shirt girl. The first day that I decided to not be a jeans and tee shirt girl, I had to take my dog Lil'Bit to the vet. I decided that I would dress casual but nicer than I usually would. I wore a long, black maxi skirt with a plain, yellow blouse and black flats and small, tasteful earrings. I even wore makeup and fixed my hair. Yep, I was put together for an everyday chore. I felt good.
I go into the vets office with my Lil'Bit and almost immediately felt - odd. The other fur baby parents were in workout clothes, shorts, jeans, etc... The same type of clothing that I would usually wear. I didn't really notice them but they noticed me. How do I know that they noticed me? Because, they were looking at me. No one looks at me and anyone who knows me, knows that I don't really like to be noticed. I don't. I like to feel good about myself but I would just as soon fade into the wallpaper. Seriously. So, when I noticed people noticing me, my mind started going into overdrive. "What if they think that I'm snobby?" (This is silly. I know. I am way too self absorbed.). I don't know what they were thinking, but I'm guessing that we as a society are so used to being so casual that when one dresses up, even just slightly, we take notice . Maybe especially, when a woman wears a skirt or a dress to a place like the vet's office.
The other uncomfortable experience was taking the personality appraisal in Secrets of Charm. My assignment was to evaluate myself in eight different personality categories. I was supposed to honestly evaluate myself with excellent, good, fair or poor. For example, self control. I did actually, honestly evaluate myself as poor. In fact, I evaluated myself in almost all of the personality traits as poor, except for tactfulness, which I put as fair. I have a lot to work on, to say the least.
Okay, now for the positive things that I have learned and started doing in my daily life. Just to warn you, this sounds frivolous and not terribly deep, but I really enjoy doing this. Are you ready? It is going to bed pretty. I remember my grandma telling me to go to bed pretty and also a co-worker, Verner, telling me the same thing. This is something that I used to do when I was much younger, but the busier I became the less I took care of myself. (How often does that happen to any of us, especially us ladies?)
So, how does one go about going to bed pretty? A nightly bath, then moisturizer, and the book suggests setting hair and putting it up in a net or a "froufrou" scarf. I'll admit right here that I do not put my hair up in a net or a scarf. I just can't sleep in them. I do brush my hair before bed though, 100 strokes like the book suggests. I will also admit that I do not look absolutely gorgeous when I wake up in the morning. My hair doesn't seem to stand straight on end though, my skin looks much better, I sleep better and taking a shower at night shaves a few minutes off my morning routine. Plus, going to bed "pretty" is just fun.
I'm off to bed now! I will hopefully be checking back very soon with another update. Goodnight! Sweet dreams!
In 1954, women(and often times men too), did not go anywhere without looking their best. I think that looking put together is always a good thing. I really do. That doesn't mean that I'm good at it though. Like I said in my previous post, I am a jeans and tee shirt girl. The first day that I decided to not be a jeans and tee shirt girl, I had to take my dog Lil'Bit to the vet. I decided that I would dress casual but nicer than I usually would. I wore a long, black maxi skirt with a plain, yellow blouse and black flats and small, tasteful earrings. I even wore makeup and fixed my hair. Yep, I was put together for an everyday chore. I felt good.
I go into the vets office with my Lil'Bit and almost immediately felt - odd. The other fur baby parents were in workout clothes, shorts, jeans, etc... The same type of clothing that I would usually wear. I didn't really notice them but they noticed me. How do I know that they noticed me? Because, they were looking at me. No one looks at me and anyone who knows me, knows that I don't really like to be noticed. I don't. I like to feel good about myself but I would just as soon fade into the wallpaper. Seriously. So, when I noticed people noticing me, my mind started going into overdrive. "What if they think that I'm snobby?" (This is silly. I know. I am way too self absorbed.). I don't know what they were thinking, but I'm guessing that we as a society are so used to being so casual that when one dresses up, even just slightly, we take notice . Maybe especially, when a woman wears a skirt or a dress to a place like the vet's office.
The other uncomfortable experience was taking the personality appraisal in Secrets of Charm. My assignment was to evaluate myself in eight different personality categories. I was supposed to honestly evaluate myself with excellent, good, fair or poor. For example, self control. I did actually, honestly evaluate myself as poor. In fact, I evaluated myself in almost all of the personality traits as poor, except for tactfulness, which I put as fair. I have a lot to work on, to say the least.
Okay, now for the positive things that I have learned and started doing in my daily life. Just to warn you, this sounds frivolous and not terribly deep, but I really enjoy doing this. Are you ready? It is going to bed pretty. I remember my grandma telling me to go to bed pretty and also a co-worker, Verner, telling me the same thing. This is something that I used to do when I was much younger, but the busier I became the less I took care of myself. (How often does that happen to any of us, especially us ladies?)
So, how does one go about going to bed pretty? A nightly bath, then moisturizer, and the book suggests setting hair and putting it up in a net or a "froufrou" scarf. I'll admit right here that I do not put my hair up in a net or a scarf. I just can't sleep in them. I do brush my hair before bed though, 100 strokes like the book suggests. I will also admit that I do not look absolutely gorgeous when I wake up in the morning. My hair doesn't seem to stand straight on end though, my skin looks much better, I sleep better and taking a shower at night shaves a few minutes off my morning routine. Plus, going to bed "pretty" is just fun.
I'm off to bed now! I will hopefully be checking back very soon with another update. Goodnight! Sweet dreams!
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