Getting Gussied up for the Nursing Home

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - Comments 0

This past Saturday my community group did a service project as part of a church-wide effort to impact our local area. Every group did something different; my group’s task was to sing for residents at a nursing home.

It was a pretty easy task, really. Out of the ten or so people in our group, more than half of us are musical, so it wasn’t a great stretch to prepare something that would engage folks who – let’s be honest – don’t have a huge range of entertainment options.

Besides, we knew that the odds of having an audience who could hear us clearly – heck, even see us clearly – were pretty low.

Which is why I find it baffling that I stressed so much about my hair and makeup that day. I even changed outfits once or twice.

Crazy.

What in the world possesses us girls to think that no matter where we go, we’ve got to look our best?

And it gets even crazier…

Last night my friend Melissa (who appears in the True video) pointed out that sometimes when we do get all gussied up, we feel so self-conscious that we avoid making eye contact with those who just might comment on how good we look. Which, um, kind of defeats the purpose, wouldn’t you say?

Yes, we women are weird. Not hopeless, though.

The key is in knowing that while our culture is hyper-focused on physical appearance, what determines our true attractiveness is what people see in our eyes.

Do they see kindness? Love? Compassion? Or are they too distracted by our clothes, hair and makeup? (Or the way we avert our eyes when they try to smile at us…)

Last Saturday I could have worn an old pair of sweats, had no makeup on, and a ballcap on my head, and Elsie, the seventy-something woman I connected with after we sang, wouldn’t have cared.

In fact, I’ll bet she would have called me beautiful.

Something to think about…

Constance

Constance Rhodes
Founder, FINDINGbalance
Author, Life Inside the Thin Cage
TRUE Campaigner (for life!)