Looking at the title of this article, I’m sure you’re already expecting something extremely cliché. However, I’m not about that. I’m here to discuss the nation-wide phenomena we all like to refer to as “resting bitch face.”
Ahh, yes. RBF. Why do we do it? Although most people will use the excuse “I don’t know, that’s just my face!” I’m going to try to make you feel so much more aware so that we can put an end to it.
Nothing feels better than a smile from a stranger. I don’t know why, but it’s almost like instant gratification. Kind of similar to a like on your Insta pic from someone who you don’t really talk to, ever.
At the beginning of the semester, I seriously questioned if something was wrong with me. Why, you may ask? Because no one sat next to me in any of my classes. I was worried that I smelled or something, then, it dawned on me. It was my terrible case of RBF.
It was right then that I knew I needed to make a change. I didn’t want to sit alone! I wanted more friends, and I wanted people to stop assuming that I was negative, upset, or mad. It’s usually because I’m sleep deprived, and really don’t have the energy to express myself in a positive way, but I realized that smiling more will fix my problem.
An easy way to fix this? Smile to anyone you see on campus. The person doesn’t even have to be a student. Flash a smile at a professor, at a random person in the supermarket, or even a dog. I promise you it’ll make you feel good. What feels even better? When the person smiles right back. Then you know you’re on the same page.
Once you’ve mastered smiling, I challenge you to take it a step further. Compliment people. Compliment shoes, compliment hair, compliment personalities. Watch how a person’s face changes when they receive a compliment.
Their eyes brighten, they’ll probably smile, and they may even compliment you back. Compliments take no time, and you never really know the impact that one simple compliment could have on someone’s day.
So, together, I think we can beat RBF. I think we can remind ourselves to be a little warmer and flash our pearly whites. I think we can take the time out of our day to pass a compliment along to someone, and I think we’ll all learn the key to feeling better about yourself in general. When you smile, you feel happier. When you compliment someone, you make someone else happy, which, in good karma, will make you happy. Remember that life isn’t so bad and that smiling isn’t so hard.
Today, you too can help put a stop to RBF with one simple smile.
