I was almost never jealous of other people, but I did notice how I differed from others.
I had a classmate whose father owned a popular clothing store in town. In High School he wore the latest styles and of course money was no issue for him with clothing. I didn’t have this situation and I noticed his clothing but was never impressed with what he wore. It was so mass market it wasn’t special to me.
Now I on the other hand was visiting used clothing stores and thrift stores and found one a kind pieces. My grandmother and I could sew, so she helped me with a few outfits. What she couldn’t do I could repair myself.
I am not saying this to brag, but give me a minute to develop the lesson. On one hand, was a rich kid wearing mass market items. On the other a middle class kid, piecing together things and making his own style. Which is better? That is for you to say, but even though we represented two different approaches to style, I never felt jealous or inadequate because we were different.
In life, people with money often have no creativity. I have seen this frequently with rich people. Often rich people have no taste, culture or creativity because they don’t need to. They rent it from others who service them. This is not universally true, but look at the shows on TV. For a long time white and the kind of sameness was everywhere in style. That goes out of style and then what do you have? Something you no longer like.
I didn’t think much of my clothing during high school. I bought it for me and if others enjoyed it then that was a side benefit. I did get some compliments from a few people but it didn’t go to my head. Just because a few people compliment you don’t mean anything. However years later I spoke with a friend and he said that I was a stylish dresser in school. I didn’t think that he cared and for him to remember many years later I guess that perhaps more people noticed than I thought.
Again this isn’t to say how wonderful I am, but just that when you do things that make you feel good and pretty you often make other people enjoy it as well. It is easy to wearing boring clothes, but I learned that by having creative clothing that was like a show for other people. I didn’t do it for that purpose, but it turned out that way. Before I even knew the term Peacocking I was doing it. Its funny how life works out isn’t it?