When I was about 17 to 20 years old I rejected everything external. I believed that value was within. I thought that your appearance doesn't matter as long as there's something valuable inside.

I would walk with long and greasy hair, wear dirty shit-kicking boots and ripped jeans. Ripped not due to sense of style, but due to rusty nail I caught somewhere.

Changing yourself to please someone outside -- isn't it a self betrayal? I am who I am right now, take it or leave it. That's what I thought back then.

Artificially making yourself look better is a reality distortion, sounds like something not that far from lying. If people can't recognize something valuable inside me with this appearance, then they shouldn't see anything valuable in more pleasantly looking version of me.

I had quite a radical monk-like attitude back then. Years have passed and my position changed.

These days I am trying to dress well, keep my body attractive, and see nothing wrong in it.

I still believe that value within dominates the appearance. I still don't give much credit to external things. I just realized that appearance is a form of communication.

I've learned that it is very hard to see value inside other person. Pretty much all the time we only see a heavily distorted version of that person. When one tries to look better he replaces one distorted image with another, that tells who he is inside more efficiently.

Striving to pleasant appearance is akin to selecting most understandable words in dialogue. You modify your initial thought to make communication more efficient.

It seems like it is okay to distort reality in eyes of others, as long as you do it honestly, without pretending to be someone you are not.

As long as you're staying yourself.