You dropped your confidence.

“Excuse me, you look good.” he said with the same urgency and lack of self-interest that one would use to tell someone they dropped a mitten. I had just attempted a run but was walking home because of back pain. I was fretting over the weight that I am sure that I have gained recently and wondering whether my blocked chakras are manifesting themselves in physical deformities yet.

I said thank you with the same kind of gratitude I would have if he had just pointed out a dropped mitten on the sidewalk. When someone shows you your mitten, you don’t tell them that it doesn’t actually fit or that you don’t really like the mitten. You certainly don’t act like you don’t need the mitten. You simply thank them. And so I thanked him without asking if he noticed how big my legs are or how terrible my haircut is. I did not ask him if he says this to all the American women in workout clothes and serious faces. I didn’t ask him if someone once told him about how American women have no idea how beautiful they are and so all that you have to do is tell them they look good. I did not act like I don’t need the approval of others, especially not male others. Nope, I just said thank you and continued walking home, reminded of my beauty. And he walked on with his friends, probably feeling like he did a good deed. Or maybe he walked on thinking something indecent and then quickly forgetting it all. Doesn’t matter.