I took a theater class once that talked about micro-expressions (at least, I think that’s what the term was). It was about how we reveal little “tics” and habits when we have an emotion. Like, if you’re mad, your eye might twitch even if you’re trying to hide it. If you’re sad, you might look up to keep the tears from falling or have a slight crease trying not to cry.
Micro-expressions. How does that factor into how we express ourselves?
Maybe we decide to wear makeup when society tells us we can’t, or we wear it in a way that makes us feel good regardless of what others say. Or maybe we wipe it off when the manual has a BS rule about wearing it a certain way. Or maybe we wear a skirt when someone says only some people can wear skirts or heels or dresses or bras or lack thereof. When people judge on race, ability, gender, sexuality, ableism, binaries and those that break them– that’s when we turn to the micro-expressions, trying to see how far we can twist and bend while still being in our skin, inhabiting our bodies, our beating hearts. Saying “not okay” when we’ve finally had enough.
Or maybe, it’s in the proud look in someone you tell a secret to, or maybe it’s in the disappointment or fear hidden in their eyes. Or maybe, just maybe, you wonder if someone left the room simply because you inhabited it, or if your shine wipes the hatred out of your orbit. (You can dream, right?)
Maybe, it’s in the little things, the micro-expressions we keep on the inside before we feel ready to show them to the whole world.
I am who I am.
I wonder who said that.