I’m 14 years old, it’s my first day of high school, and I’m up 3 hours before I need to leave the house. My parents have banned me from taking the first shower because I use up all of the hot water so I’m just lying in bed thinking about how miserable my day is going to be because I NEED a shower before I can do anything else. My world as I know it is going to collapse!
I get dropped off at my school (4 blocks away), completely dissatisfied with the way I look and I’m convinced everyone thinks I look less than satisfactory. Not only am I frumpy but I’m feeling grumpy too. My face read “Hi, my name is Gus, Grumpy Gus.” As I walk to my first class, another girl catches my eye. I know she’s a freshman just like me because she has her orientation packet with the map out. She is smiling ear to ear and we make eye contact. My low self-confidence begged me to look away but there was something about this stranger’s smile that made me hold eye contact and smile back. She turned my day around and little did I know at the time, the rest of my outlook on life.
Several things happen in our brains during a smile exchange:
- Emotional recognition is activated and we start to mirror each other’s emotions.
- The “feel good” neurotransmitters are released and can lower heart rate and blood pressure.
- When we smile at others and receive smiles in return we start feeling rewarded and therefore feel more attractive and confident.
After that day, the only thing I feel like I NEED to put on before I leave the house is my SMILE. I’ve had miserable bosses that just can’t be mad around me as much as they want to stay in their funk and sad friends who feel uplifted when I smile. I have yet to shine a smile that doesn’t somehow have a positive effect on either my day or someone else’s. A smile costs you nothing but could enrich the lives of others.
A smile is always in style!
To read another fun blog we found online click the following link: “Addicted to Smiling.”