I started my entry-level job, had my own salary, and wanted to get my own apartment. I didn’t have the money to get the apartment I wanted, so I lived in the apartment I could afford. That being said, it was a pretty wonderful little 3rd-floor walk-up studio apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In the bathroom, there was this quite large heating pipe that ran from floor to ceiling between the sink and the toilet, about three or four inches from the wall. It was an eyesore. It was painted white like the walls… as if it would blend in. It didn’t. And in the winter, it got so hot that if anyone accidentally touched it, they would burn themselves. I hated that pipe.
I couldn’t remove it. I couldn’t hide it… so I decided to celebrate it. I painted it red. Then something strange happened—I ended up loving that pipe. Friends would come over, and if they used the bathroom, they would almost always come out and say, “I love that pipe!”
So often, we have things about ourselves that we hate, that we try to hide. It never works. Most everyone can see the thing we are trying to hide—our social awkwardness, our receding hairlines, our chipped tooth—so why not celebrate it? Own it. Make it stand out.
I now regularly talk about my social awkwardness or the unique qualities that come as a result of my ADHD as assets that I’m proud of. I love that I go to a party and stand by myself with a drink in the middle of the room. I’m the observer. I think my receding hairline makes me look distinguished. And my chipped tooth makes my smile uniquely mine – not to be mistaken for all those people with perfect teeth.
The next time something goes wrong, the next time you wish something didn’t exist—don’t try to hide it, paint it red.
