There’s a good reason why I try very hard to keep my physical appearance separate from almost everything in my life. I don’t have a profile picture on Odyssey or my Twitter, and I’m more than sure that I will always keep it that way.

I have issues with appearances.

But not my personal appearance. I’m not saying that I think I’m gorgeous or anything. I’m not ugly nor beautiful, and I honestly try not to fret over this fact. For the record, as a teenage girl, I think it’s impossible not to be unconfident with the way that I look. I, along with the rest of the female population, are constantly bombarded with the message that self-worth begins with how I look.

Yet, there are so many things that I’d rather be before I would wish to be pretty. Smart, confident, ambitious and successful...who would trade looks for something so meaningful? Still, I know people who would trade anything to be beautiful.

There was a conversation that I had with a group of high school friends. We were playing a stupid “Would you Rather” game from an app that we downloaded five minutes before we started hanging out. One of the questions was “Would you rather be sexually and physically attracted to a partner or emotionally and soulfully attracted?”.

My answer came to me in a matter of seconds. I even laughed because I thought that the question was so stupid. Apparently so did the other people in my group. From a population of about six people, myself included, picked an emotional attraction. When I said this, the kids looked at me like I was stupid. What self-respecting 18-year-old will end up with someone ugly?

I was completely baffled. I couldn’t just let the conversation drop. I asked for their reason behind their choice, and they told me that the physical aspects of life were more important. If you were bound to be with someone for the rest of your life, wouldn’t you want it to be recklessly passionate and consuming?

They’d find emotional connections somewhere else or forget it altogether. I replied that one day, age would end up taking beauty away. One kid laughed and told me that even after the beauty is gone, the sex can still stay.

This conversation happened a few months ago. I’ve been afraid to ask others the same question. Was the rest of the world so shallow? I’m afraid that a portion of the world is, thus, my issues with appearance.

I didn’t have an all-consuming message for my high school friends or the society that traps girls with beauty standards. To be honest, I still don’t. I can’t change shallow minds. I don’t want to change shallow minds, but spread the message that I don’t care about things that a person can’t change about themselves.

Sure, sex may stay after hair has grown grey and age has taken over the body. Sure, you might feel the initial zing of lust or attraction when you meet someone "hot," but personality rarely changes. I’d rather have someone who I can talk to at three in the morning.

It doesn’t matter if they're a friend, lover or whoever. I want to have a conversation with someone, to lose track of time with them, to be able to laugh with them until I cry and to have the deepest of conversations. You don’t need a pretty face to do these things with me.

So why is it so important?