Older and Wiser: Life Lessons by Chris

I'm no stranger to the idea of privilege: I've studied it, presented it, and really internalized the concept. Usually, when I think about privilege though, I think about it in terms of qualities such as race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation, education, and religion. (ie, what privileges, good and bad, does being a middle class white man in America afford me?)

But for some reason, lately I've been really fixated on the idea of aestetic privilege. It's not that I haven't always known that being attractive comes with its perks. In fact, just writing this, I could easily rattle off at least a dozen privileges that attractive and in shape people experience that others do not.

Now, I have a really healthy and realistic body image and am generally quite happy with the way I look, so don't misunderstand. But lately, I've been really curious about what my life would be like if I were physically different. How would I be different now if I grew up to be tall and strong and Brad Pitt-esque? How has my appearance shaped who I am today? How would my personality differ if I didn't have to work to get a date? If I had a more main-stream look? If clothes fit me better? etc...

I'd like to think that I'd still be the same person, and I guess there's really no way to ever find out. But, this is just something I've been thinking about lately...

Also, I've learned three very valuable life lessons this week:

1) If your day starts off chasing after someone, it's probably not going to be a good day.
2) Only you can choose your attitude (somewhat in contradiction to life lesson #1, and also stolen from the Fish! Philosophy)
3) The more you do, the more you can do. This seems so simple and obvious. It's basically just a twist on the ideas of practice and conditioning. But until recently, I never really realized its applicability to life in general.

IT'S ALMOST SEPTEMBER!!!! ONLY 11 MORE DAYS UNTIL I FINALLY GET A DAY OFF!!!