It doesn't matter if you win or lose but how you look doing it

There are many things in life I just don't understand.

A few weeks ago I was waiting at the salon and there was a woman at the front desk setting up an appointment. This is not strange I know, but let me try and explain why it has stuck with me. She was skinny, to the bone skinny; her face was all hollow and looked like a skeleton. Her knees were by far the widest part of her legs. Her neck looked so frail that it could hardly support her head. She had been tanning and was the color of a dark cherry wood stain; her face texture was that of leather. Her platinum blonde hair that was pulled back in a loose ponytail was fried from all the dyeing. Her sunken face looked to be 70 years old but I would have to guess she was in her 20's or 30's, it was hard to even take a guess.

She wore work out cloths, leggings and an oversized sweat shirt that went almost to her knees that was imprinted with the Champion logo. Her socks looked brand new and had the Nike symbol on them which matched the brand new Nike shoes. Over her shoulder was an oversized Louis Vuitton handbag, and on her head were Channel sunglasses with the fake rhinestones along the side.

She had seemed to take all the modern day female idealisms to the extreme. She was winning the contest to be skinniest, blondest, tannest and the biggest spender. To me it looked like she was losing the game of Life. My heart went out to her, I felt terrible and sad. She so clearly needed self acceptance and a hug to me.

These are just my opinions of this situation. I'm not saying having a Louis Vuitton bag is a bad thing, but it definitely doesn't make a person happy in itself. This woman may have been totally giddy with Life and had already checked off all the 'simple things that make you happy' boxes and had moved on to others. We won't know.

A little later I was sitting getting my nails done and the woman had walked by. I said to the manicurist "It must be really tough on her", gesturing towards the skeleton woman. The manicurist looks up and says "Yea I know, it must be really tough to buy pants that fit". Thankfully the manicurist was looking down at my nails when she said this because my face was transparently showing my thoughts, TOUGH TO BUY PANTS! My verbal response to her was

"Yea, plus the clearly self evident health, emotional, and physical issues".

Her response to me was a confused "humm". We were not on the same wave length.

I looked around and wonder am I in bizarre-o world or am I the odd ball here. I've gone out of my way to not get caught up with having all the latest toys and Name Brands that promise a false sense of self fulfillment. I work very hard at accepting myself and enjoying who I am, it's not easy but well worth the effort. I'm not perfect, no one is. Why do we all have to try and pretend that we are?

This is to be continued. This trend has overwhelmed us and I'm worried about what this means for all of us. This contest to be hottest and the biggest spender has totally warped the values of our society. If you are going to work so hard at a contest, make sure it's a contest you want to be a part of first. This trend seems as filling to your self esteem as a bag of potato chips.

There are many things in life I just don't understand.