{"id":54,"date":"2023-08-10T18:40:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T17:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/?p=54"},"modified":"2025-07-18T00:46:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T23:46:56","slug":"yes-your-little-smiles-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/2023\/08\/10\/yes-your-little-smiles-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, your little smiles matter."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Growing up in Indonesia as an East Asian with slit-shaped eyes, people like to point out how my eyes seemed to be totally closed every time I smile or laugh. I never take that as an offense at all because subconsciously I was aware that it amuses people around me, even though, I must admit that the look of my smile is not the sweetest.\u00a0 But out of nowhere when I started senior high school, I purposely stopped smiling and I noticed that I was losing my confidence. I was talking awkwardly, I couldn\u2019t stand firm when people were around, and I looked horrible in group photos. This edgy phase continued to happen until I graduated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there’s this period before I entered university. One day a 5-year-old cheerfully laughed when I greet him. His mother told me that he liked me because of my smile. I was surprised a simple smile could do that. That day I clearly understand what Nat King Cole’s Smile<\/a> is all about.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that wholesome encounter, I started to smile regularly again. I began by showing a friendly smile to strangers that initiated eye contact with me on the street. As this trivial behavior started to mold into a habit, I feel more confident. Now talking to other human beings feels effortless, I gain more composure to start any conversation (which equals more friends), and telling the waiter to replace my fallen spoon is not scary anymore. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a daily practice that you can apply too. Young people today spend so much time and mental energy worrying about how they look. But let me tell you, a sincere smile, a modest outfit, and clean hair are all you need to start.\u00a0The universe won’t end just because 8 billion people don’t consider your looks a supermodel or an Instagram influencer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that even if you’re ugly and you lost a tooth. Your little smiles still matter and your life can start to change from that.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Indonesia as an East Asian with slit-shaped eyes, people like to point out how my eyes seemed to be totally closed every time I smile or laugh. I never take that as an offense at all because subconsciously I was aware that it amuses people around me, even though, I must admit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/your-little-smiles-matter-e1752795947467.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66,"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/66"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsvitae.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}