No I’m Not Angry, This Is Just My Neutral Face

Growing up, I have always been told that I have a very expressive face. If I am ever feeling a certain emotion, my face goes to the extreme to express it. I wasn’t even aware of it until people started pointed it out to me. My face would just come out the way it did. My expressive face apparently didn’t just occur when I felt bouts of emotion, it also affected my neutral facial expression. To be frank and to the point, I basically have “resting bitch face.”

I can’t tell you how often I have had friends tell me that they were scared to come up to me and say “hi” because they thought I was angry or upset that day. I then would have to go through the process of telling them that it’s just how my face looks and to just come up to me. “Come up to me or say hi, it’s okay. I’m probably not angry or anything. I’ll respond back I swear.” I was once told by a friend in high school that when they were first introduced to me, they thought I was unfriendly because I didn’t really talk to them and that I had an angry look on my face. In actuality I’m just not good at meeting new people and I’m kind of shy. My tendency to be a little shy and introverted I guess isn’t a great mix with my neutral expression.

Sometimes I feel the need to tell people disclaimers that I’m not angry or moody. Earlier on, I sometimes felt like I should been more aware of my face and maybe try to look friendlier. Or maybe even change up how I acted to counteract how my face looked. Maybe then I would get less comments from people telling me how I look unapproachable or how I should smile more. But then again, constantly being aware of your body is a lot of work. I actually don’t really mind having a “resting bitch face”. It’s what my face looks like and I’m gonna keep it.