SHE WAS STARING AT ME

I've got a short story for you this week, and it's a true one as well! It happened to one of my friends. When she told me about it, I immediately thought about how good of a blog post it would be. I asked for her permission to post it, and she even sent me pictures! Keep reading or watch the following video for more...

Now, this story happened in Mexico. My friend spent the week at the beach at a resort, and the whole time, there was this woman, staring at her with a disapproving & judging look on her face. My friend Treena always ended up around her somehow, and she got very uncomfortable with herself. She thought: "Oh my gosh, she's looking at my tattoos, she's looking at me, she's judging me, and she disapproves of my hair, or whatever the thought of the day was." This woman seemingly hated her tattoos and the way she looked!

On one of her last days there, the woman comes up to her and says: "Excuse me? I just wanted to tell you, I've been looking at you all week and I'm so impressed by you. You are so confident. You are beautiful, and the way that you stand, and you walk in the water is impressive and amazing!" Treena had been making up a totally different story in her head, almost ruining her week at the beach in Mexico just because the woman stared. For those of you who are wondering, this is my friend Treena. She's absolutely phenomenal. She's gorgeous, and there she was, thinking she was being judged because of her tattoos!

Let me tell you that once this conversation happened with this other woman and she learned the real reason behind the stares, of course she had a fantastic rest of her stay. She was just about to leave, but still, she had a great time with her husband. Now, of course she did not ruin her whole week, but these insecurities and thoughts that we are making up could potentially ruin amazing moments.

So, what is it for you? When do you feel judged? Are you making it up? Maybe you want to add something to a meeting, but you think you'll be judged. Maybe you don't dare to speak up. Maybe you have an idea, but you don't say so, or maybe there's a client that you would like to approach, but you feel like they gave you the look. We don't know what's in other peoples' heads, and we need to ask. Whether it's with a coworker or someone you're very close with, talk to people. Sometimes we're happy, but we forget to tell our face, right?

Sad and happy woman face. Lady with smiling and frowning face. Young woman expressing different emotions. Different moods. Emotional contrast.

Sometimes, when people around me are frowning or looking kind of off, I ask: "Are you okay? What's going on?" And they're like: "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Of course, sometimes, "I'm fine" is code for: "Don't ask, because I don't want to tell you all my life", but sometimes they really are! Ask yourself the right questions. Talk to the people around you. Ask them why. And if you're going to make up a story, make up a good one, because you don't know what they're thinking. You don't know why they're watching. Make up a good story that serves you, because you're making it up anyway.