Mean resting face: a real and evident presence in my life. I was blessed with a natural resting face that looks like I’m about to kill whoever makes eye contact with me next. But let me tell you, I do not want to do that. And neither does anyone else who was given the curse of MRF.

There are some people on this earth who have some kind of magical ability that allows them to smile 24/7. Oh my goodness, I absolutely cannot. No way. So what do I do when I’m not smiling? Nothing. My face just rests. Apparently this resting face of mine can come across as “unfriendly” or “intimidating” or “terrifying.” Since my Harding journey began, these are all terms I’ve heard from my friends when they talk about my infamous face.

I jumped on the opportunity to write an opinion on this subject. I know there are others out there with MRF, and I want to be the voice that says, “We are more than our scary faces and we are not awful people!”

A friend of mine recently showed me a Facebook status that read, “You have a mean resting face? Oh, you mean you’re just a terrible person.” Oh boy, was my blood boiling. Hear me now: my facial expression is not a reflection of who I am as a person.

I am very aware of what I look like to others, and I am constantly trying to show that just because it looks like I’m criticizing or glaring, I am not. I try to smile at every person I make eye contact with when I’m walking, I smile when people are giving presentations, and I smile when someone looks genuinely scared of me, which happens.

My MRF has gotten me in trouble before. Feelings were hurt because someone thought I was glaring, adults and teachers thought I was being disrespectful, and bad first impressions from others are all on the list. Nothing is worse than when someone tells me they thought I didn’t like them but only because of my face.

There are very few times in my life, and in the lives of my friends who have MRF, where our resting faces have been an accurate portrayal of how we are feeling or how we feel about someone else.

However, just because we have the faces of a fallen angel, doesn’t give people the right to say whatever they want to about it. Please don’t tell us we look better when we smile, that we should cheer up, or incessantly ask why we’re mad. Some people are self-conscious about it and are usually feeling fine until comments like that are made.

Please do not misunderstand me; I am not ashamed of my face. I accepted this a long time ago and have chosen to rock it. I know that not everyone understands this, and that is why I try to adapt. I don’t want to come across badly to others or give people the wrong idea.

I am simply wanting to raise awareness that an expression is not a truth. What I want people to know is that we are not terrible people, we are not mean, we are not scary and we are fine. We can do whatever we want to with our faces. And that’s OK.