I’m sure you’ve heard the terms “resting bitch face” and “resting niceface” if you haven’t then you probably don’t have them, or it isn’t something you’ve noticed. Lucky you! I have completely the opposite. I have “resting sad face.” The problem with this is that I always look like something is troubling me. The case is usually the opposite. I’d say I’m a pretty happy person most of the time. My face just doesn’t show it unless I pop a smile. The corners of my mouth turn downward farther than most people’s lips do. This is caused by the fact that my lips don’t come together naturally. I unconsciously use my chin muscle to keep my lips together. I found this out when I was in the process of getting braces. My orthodontic noticed it while pre assessing if I needed braces. It’s not a big deal and it doesn’t affect my life in anyway. I just thought it was an interesting piece of information. I did need braces in the end, but thankfully only for a year.
I don’t mind having resting sad face, my only problem is other people around me. It’s sweet that some people take the time out of their day to ask how I’m doing. Most of the time i’d rather be in the background without being noticed. The most annoying thing I get from some people is the phrase “put a smile on your face.” Excuse you… don’t tell me how to live my life, it’s just my face, I can’t do much about it. When being introduced to new people, I always feel like I have to exert more energy to level out to the “normal amount” of energy most people give off when being introduced. I don’t want to seem like i’m uninterested or bored, especially during things like interviews.
I remember whenever I had school photos I’d try to smile without showing my teeth because I hated my smile. The photographer would also tell me “try to smile more, show some teeth!” and I’d comply and then hate my school photos because it was a forced smile and I looked like I was in pain. Most of the pictures taken of me my face says “am I smiling correctly?”. Now a days I’ve learned didn’t little tricks and tips to even out my resting sad face. Now I just look mildly bored or unimpressed with things. I’m just joking, but I have figured out that my smile is beautiful and I’ve grown to love it now.
Our faces don’t always match our mental state, but our face gives off misleading facial expressions. People with resting sad face typically aren't sad and wish that you’d just leave them alone in the end. The only problem that backfires with this idea is that when something is wrong people don’t notice and we feel forgotten. In the end, if you know them personally, I would give it a guess and it may annoy us if we aren’t sad and you ask, but grateful if we actually are.
