Recently, a new friend very casually asked me, “So what do you like to do besides makeup?” This happened on a dark and rainy night while he was cruising along an expressway, and there I was, innocently seated on the passenger side, occasionally glancing at the odd landmark to my left, ambushed by his question. Caught off-guard, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.
“Nothing,” I chimed. “I’m a pretty boring person.”
As soon as those words left my mouth, I felt a tiny ripple of shame and discomfort. I wasn’t quite sure of the reasons I was feeling that way. Maybe it was because I truly believed that I was an uninteresting person. Perhaps it was because I was putting myself down (I fiercely believe that an individual should never put herself or himself down. We are all of worth). My friend didn’t really have much of a reply to that, but he gets distracted rather easily and we soon moved on to the discussion of another topic. However, through the rest of the journey, a part of my mind was stuck at that question; I couldn’t help but wonder to myself, “Am I uninteresting?”
How does one even start to gauge whether she or he is interesting? Do you think you are an interesting person? I contemplated this question for a bit and also related this particular incident to some of my good friends. All of them were appalled at the answer that I had given and some harsh words were furiously sent through text (albeit those harsh words were in defence of how interesting I was, hence, I really shouldn’t be complaining). The friend whom I had been with is really interesting. At least to me, he is. He works as a designer, he skateboards, he listens to many different kinds of music, he has travelled to many places in the world before (even attempted backpacking from the United Kingdom to India by land), he has dabbled in different occupations before, he is into film and documentaries, he is into craftwork and makes his own Halloween costumes, and he collects vintage stuff. Are those not many hobbies and achievements? With this as context, maybe you have a better idea of how I was feeling when he asked me that question. Everything I like to do or actually do seemed to pale in comparison.
“You like to sing. You have travelled overseas to Prague in Czech Republic and Riva del Garda in Italy for choir competitions. You have travelled alone to Aarhus in Denmark for an exchange semester for university. You have travelled alone in London and Germany as well as with friends to other European countries. You love makeup and have done makeup tutorials on Youtube. You can play the ukulele (a little). You like working out; going to the gym, running and swimming make you happy. You graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Second Upper Class (Honours) degree in English Language, and got on the dean’s list before. You love music.” These were the things that one of my best friends listed out for me when I told her I had said that I was boring. It was heartening to have her remember all these achievements, yet I had a rather lacklustre reply: “But those are things I do to get by, and mostly I’ve done them largely due to school. They don’t seem to be things to bring up when you get asked ‘What do you like to do?’”
Do the things you like to define how interesting you are as a person? After giving the matter due consideration, I have to say, I really don’t think so. A person could have countless hobbies and still be as boring as the cement ground in the CBD area. Or a Singaporean streetlamp. At the same time, a person could have many hobbies and also be very interesting. We shouldn’t compare hobbies. Everyone loves doing different things. Personally, the things that I love are related to personal style – dressing up, fashion and makeup. Some may find them superficial, but I genuinely derive pleasure from performing such things. We need not possess particular skill sets, such as painting, parkour skills, trombone playing talent, or be able to perform the Cup Song to be interesting. We needn’t be brilliant at something. We just need to find pleasure in the things that we do, feel alive when doing them, and bask in the glory of simply possessing the desire to attempt that one single thing. At least you’re trying. Some people don’t even have it in them to want to do anything. I love makeup. I have books on makeup and I have read up on colours and makeup application because I love makeup. My eyes glint with excitement when I think of a new makeup look. I love electronic music; I delve deep into different genres such as techno, chill step, trap, house, nu disco, tech house and drum and bass, exploring the history of these types of music, and the inspirations behind my favourite artists’ creations.
Every one of us is unique. Being interesting is not dependent on the things you like to do. Being interesting does not entail having many interests and hobbies. Being interesting, I believe, has to do with how one perceives the world and its people. When you have a unique perspective of life, its events and what you do, it makes an impact on the people around you. They would crave your insights, and look forward to conversations full of discussions with you. If you have a special lens through which you view life’s events, like Suzy Bishop’s pair of binoculars, someone would find you interesting. All of us lead different lives and each and every one of us has hilarious, strange, embarrassing, painful, happy, sad and memorable stories to tell. An anecdote that you might think is lame may be an inspiration to that particular someone else whom needs that exact lame anecdote at that exact time to move forward in life and grow to be a more beautiful and special person. When you take pride in the things you do and the stories you tell, you can be an interesting person, regardless of whether you have many hobbies.
So tell me, are you interesting? What do you like to do? Is your perspective unique? Are your words witty? Can you make the people around you laugh? The chances are, you probably are, to someone, somewhere out there. Take some time to think about it. Are you interesting?
ETA
A few days after I had written this entry, I was very taken with a book over at my friend's, and seeing my keen interest in it, I was very kindly loaned the book. I discovered a quote in it that I feel is incredibly fitting for this entry.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
- Oscar Wilde
Hoping that you'll take the road to trusting your own reactions, your own thoughts, your own beliefs soon. I'm looking forward to that unique blend of qualities, values and thoughts that is you.
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Labels: Life, opinions, passion, thoughts, writing
