Just a Bit More

I’m generally a pretty happy person. I have my struggles here and there, but I try not to wear them on my face. You can see said happiness through various shenanigans to include crying in Walmart (or any public place for that matter), ordering food in the drive-thru in accents, and walking extremely weird in public places. I like to get a reaction. What can I say? There are other ways I express my happiness. Things that normal humans do. Laughing, clapping, singing, and most of all….

Smiling.

I think I’m a pretty smiley person. I love people and our interactions. I love life in general. So, I show it on my face. At least I thought I did until I had two occurrences at the gym today that made me rethink my facial expressions.

One of my high school/college friends and I saw each other in real life (Facebook only gets you so far) for the first time in years. We both expressed joy at seeing one another, and had the “what have you been up to” conversation. It was a quick one. After it was over, I thought to myself, “Did I smile enough?”

This plagued me for a bit.

I was sitting on the calf raise machine, and we were talking while I was doing my set. Common sense would tell you my concentration level prevented my face from breaking out in a wide grin. However, afterwards I still thought, “I probably should have smiled more.” Not that I was giving off the “will you please shut up” notion. I just wanted her to know I was glad to see her. I kept this in mind as I journeyed off to my next exercise destination where my second encounter happened.

I was finishing a set, and I walked off to give my legs some rest. P.S. Leg day is awesome! I walked by a man on an elliptical. I was making a beat in my head from one of the treadmill joggers steps. I’m musician. What can I say? As I was walking back to my machine to finish up my set, the man on the elliptical turned and smiled at me. I nodded back, spoke to him, and finished my set. I happened to see this man two more times and each time he smiled at me. A wide, joyous, grin spread across his face. One smile even came with a wave. I was consciously aware at this point that I may have not smiled back at him in my full capacity. So, I made sure to wave and smile.

Because I want to make sure people know I’m a friendly person, I second guess myself in this area sometimes. I’m sure these, in these instances, whoever I interacted with felt fine in the conversation. It’s just me over-analyzing situations. However, thinking about this made me realize it doesn’t hurt to smile a bit more.

I know it’s not cool to smile at people these days. America would rather fight about the latest issue than be cordial with one another. I, for one, don’t believe my every interaction with another should be tumultuous (thanks social media).

So, I can smile just a bit more.