In English class this year, my teacher assigned us a project on the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. For those that may not know, Randy Pausch gave a lecture to his students at Carnegie Mellon University almost a decade ago. Most professors are given the challenge of crafting a hypothetical final lecture for their students. For Randy Pausch, husband and father of three, this was not a hypothetical lecture.
Pausch was dying of cancer. He wrote, and performed his final lecture so that his wife and children would always have something physical to remember him by. One of the major things Pausch touches on in his lecture is how we, as humans, will often misuse our time on things that do us no real good in life.
For me, that's makeup.
Don't get me wrong, I love makeup. If I didn't spend a single dollar on makeup from the day I started wearing it to today, I would have enough money to cover a class in college. I adore playing with different colored eye shadows and contouring and of course a good highlight will always make me audibly gasp. Whenever I pass by an Ulta or Sephora, my heart breaks a little inside. Heck, I follow all of my favorite brands on Twitter. I love makeup, and I'm not afraid to admit it.
But recently, I've been feeling a little overwhelmed because of the standards I have set for myself and makeup.
In today's world, if you aren't doing your makeup right, you can get made fun of on social media. If you don't perfectly apply a single thing correctly, you become the brunt of a nasty joke. To me, that shouldn't be the case, but that's an article for another day. For the past couple of weeks, I have felt a growing insecurity deep within myself. Not necessarily from makeup, but feeling like I have to get everything right all the time is a large burden to bear.
And here comes the project:
One of our prompts for the project is to get rid of something in your daily routine that does not serve a productive purpose in your life. I want to see any physical and emotional differences that comes with giving up something so sacred to me as my makeup.
So, from this Monday, 10/10, until November 10th, I will not be putting any makeup on my face. Because I'm in a production of The 39 Steps, I will be learning to and putting on stage makeup, but that is the only exception. Other than that, I won't concern myself about the clothes I wear or the way I do my hair that day. I want to learn the effects of not slathering my face with makeup every day. I still hold an appreciation for makeup, and trust me, this is going to be one of the most difficult things that I do to not put on even a small amount in the morning.
For now, I'll be checking in every week and letting you all know what happened or if anything interesting or mind-boggling happens, and overall condition of my skin, mental health, and anything else I feel like needs to be shared.
If you want to join, have any comments for support, or would like to share your story, feel free to share, comment, or even just give me a thumbs up! Wish me luck!
