Through the looking glass

“It matters what is on the inside and not the outside” “The external beauty doesn’t matter it is your internal beauty that counts” these are beliefs that have been preached in the past and I am quite sure they will continue to be preached in the future. Then why is it that people still want to look good? Why do they take extra care in order to look good?

It is a fact that most of us like good-looking people. However my belief is that we don’t like them because they are good looking but because they believe that they are good looking. They carry around them an aura of confidence which makes them so appealing. I have observed that people tend to merely reflect what we feel.

My first exposure to this observation occurred when I was in 3rd standard. It was the first time I got glasses and they were those terrible looking plastic ones. Previously another girl in my class had got similar looking glasses and all my class mates made fun of her and called her a grand mom. I was quite sure that I would be subjected to the same treatment.  However when I did get my glasses I was very happy that I could finally see clearly that and I felt very confident about myself. Believe it or not my class mates did not tease me! At that point I was pleasantly surprised but now I realize that it was because of my confidence.
That event changed my perspective. I realized that no one could make me feel bad about myself. Only I could. The world around me was just a mirror that reflected what I felt and believed.

Another fact that I observed was that my external appearance was affected by how I felt. So wouldn’t the reverse also hold true? Could I not change the way I felt by altering my appearance? I noticed that I did feel a lot more confident when I looked good, when I took that little extra effort to pamper myself.
So I wonder is it so wrong to want to look good and feel good about myself? Is it wrong to want to pamper myself and want to be confident? I don’t think so. Do you?