The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is actually quite marvelous.
If you use Amazon at all, you’ve probably seen that it was nominated for a slew of Emmy’s, and so Amazon is throwing that in your face to try to get you to watch it, so you’ll be addicted, and renew your prime membership, and keep sending them money every year.
Which is crummy.
But the show IS very good.
One of my favorite scenes in about halfway through the pilot. Mrs. Maisel, or Midge, goes to bed with her husband after a long day, and a long night. Once he falls asleep, she quietly tiptoes out of bed and over to the bathroom. Then, Midge proceeds to go through a long beauty routine that ends with her face covered in cream and her hair curled and tied up for the night.
But that’s only half the scene. It’s followed by her waking up. Go watch it now, through till the morning alarm clock rings.
I love that scene. It’s such a great way to capture the culture of upper middle class men and women in the 1950’s. Midge’s over the top efforts to preserve and enhance her beauty are contrasted so well with her husband’s total lack of awareness.
But part of why I love it is because I spent most of my life completely unaware of the work required to look good.
For men or women.
I didn’t care about looking good myself, and was just as clueless as Mr. Maisel about what lengths some women will go to.
A few years back that all started to change. It was a few different things, but in the end, I realized I wasn’t all that much to look at.
More importantly, I realized that my looks were affecting my own mindset and beliefs more than they affected others. It was time to change.
So I started to lift.
I started to dress better.
I grew a beard.
I learned to trim it.
I lifted some more
I shortened the last of my balding hair to a respectable length.
I started to dress even better.
I lifted some more.
It only came after years of effort.
It only came after building some daily habits.
And sticking with them through the dips.
It took time. It still takes time.
That time is the price of respect.
Self-respect.