Make It Worth Their While

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved jewellery. I guess I have my mum to thank for that; as she had a few nice and colourful pieces and from a young age, I got to look through her trinket box and ‘play’ with some of them.

As a child, I had dangling earrings, bangles and rings. This is because local goldsmiths would create pieces to fit anyone and it was the norm for custom pieces to be made for children. It’s no wonder that as I grew up, my love of jewellery never faded.

I have walked past people and immediately noticed a nice piece that I couldn’t help complimenting them on; their reciprocal smiles showed they appreciated that someone else paid enough attention to something that was a reflection of them.

I love the quote by Harry Winston, the American jeweller, which says, “People will stare. Make it worth their while.”

There are many reasons for people to stare at us and we have to be fully prepared for that. Some will stare because of a unique or expensive jewellery, car or other accessories that’s on or around us. This can feel nice unless you are uncomfortable with the attention.

Others will stare because we look different to them. While on a bus recently, I observed how an elderly lady stared at each person that got on the Bus. I studied her reactions as she stared at them; I spotted the change of expressions on her face as she subconsciously processed who, she thought, they were.

She turned her attention to me and ‘abruptly and rudely’ asked if I had taken my Covid 19 jab and I responded that I had. I couldn’t help asking why she was interested in that and she said she didn’t want to be on the Bus with anyone who hadn’t taken their jab.

It wasn’t what she said but ‘how’ she said it. I can understand anyone’s reasonable fears of feeling unsafe around unvaccinated people.

I could have responded in any number of ways but I figured she had enough to deal with given all the other people she was processing in her mind. She was already heavily burdened.

In that moment, I was reminded that we are all at the mercy of people’s stares and it’s up to us to respond appropriately. We can choose to say, “‘what are you looking at?’ in frustration or we can decide to make it worth their while.”

Something I love doing is catching people’s stares and smiling back at them which often disconcerts many as they realise I see them too.

We can’t stop people from staring, and we can, sometimes, be the reason when we fail to conduct ourselves in an appropriate manner.

So what can we do?

Firstly we must accept that people will stare and since they will, give them something worth staring at. Show them love and respect. Display grace, elegance, compassion, kindness, mercy, heartwarming smiles, gratitude and inner beauty.

Make sure what people see ‘of you’ becomes an inspiration to them.

Secondly, check yourself. Realise when you are about to make a spectacle of yourself and stop before you do. You can’t blame people for staring if you give them an unsavoury reason to.

Respect the rules of law and common decency, treat others as you would like to be treated and remember you don’t have to always prove you’re right. And you might not even be right.

Finally take a cue from Harry Winston’s goals with his jewellery pieces; he wanted his customers to make people’s stares worth their while. So why not do the same. Think, ‘if people are going to stare anyway, how can I make it a great and pleasurable experience for them?’

It’s showtime and the world is our stage so put on an authentic show that YOU will be proud of. Thanks for reading my post. Have an awesome week.