Stating the obvious...

There is nothing more difficult than describing yourself- how you look and how you are as a person.
If asked, I would say that I am tallish, with reddish brown hair and greenish grey eyes. In my head that is how I look. The power of 'ish' is mighty in my mind. Yet a simple photograph shows that my hair is RED and my eyes are GREEN. No 'ish 'about it...

But I would no more describe myself as having green eyes and red hair than I would say I was a dainty little thing. That colouring belongs on people like Maureen O'Hara

Personal perception is a tricky thing. Psychologist Dr David Lewis says that we all have 3 types of self image-
1.Our 'real self' - how we believe ourselves to be
2.Our 'other self' - how we believe others regard us
3. Our 'ideal self' - how we want to be!

Problems arise when these selves are radically different to each other.
Growing up a 'round child', I placed most of my importance on what was on the inside. People said I was 'a nice girl' Oh how I hated that word nice. It was like damming me with faint praise. But now that I am older I actively want to be nice and more importantly kind.

Henry James once said-

Three things in human life are important.
The first is to be kind.
The second is to be kind.
The third is to be kind.

I'm pretty sure, I'm not the only one with 'ish' tendancies.
How would you describe yourself? and how accurate is it?

Queen Marie
(Quite a nice girl, with reddish hair, a fat arse and greenish eyes)

Comments

[Helen]

God, that's one of those terrible interview questions isn't it? Describe yourself. Or 'tell me something interesting about yourself'. It's so hard to be interesting on demand!

I would describe myself as small, with brown hair and brown eyes and a funny nose which has grown on me in the past few years.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3029/2673846563_080eb6a9b2.jpg?v=0

[bluehammer]

Worse than those interview questions are the introductions at training courses. "We're going to go round the room and you tell us your name and job, and just to break the ice, something unusual about yourself - or something nobody here knows about you." Aarrggh. Most of the things nobody at work knows about me I plan to keep that way, thank you very much. Then I end up trying to steer a path between relatively innocuous things I could say (for fear of being thought pathetic) and more exotic facts (for fear of being thought bragging). I want to say something cool and funny. So I guess it's clear I over-analyze and worry about what other people think too much.

I don't have too much trouble with "ish", I do find I have contradictory extremes in my view of myself. Such as, I think of myself as tough and resilient (and I know there are people in my workplace who think I stray over the line into being aggressive) but I also think of myself as sensitive and somewhat fragile. I'm ambivalent about authority and rules. Yet I have ended up in jobs where I had to define processes and boundaries. And sometimes I'm dying for someone else to enforce a rule on a situation I'm not impressed by. I'm not very driven by formal status or titles, but I do need to be respected. I agree it is important to be kind.

After that: I'm 5 ft 4. I'm thinner than I used to be. (I was perplexed by size charts last night - it seems I have size UK12/US8 chest and waist, and size UK8/US4 hips. No wonder I spend so much money with my tailor.) My skin is very fair. My natural hair color hasn't been seen for fifteen years. Right now it's dark with pieces of neon red. Earlier in the year the pieces were turquoise but I can tell you that renders half your wardrobe unwearable. Sometimes it's blonde. My accent makes me sound posher than I am. Sometimes in a photo I look pretty. Often I don't. It's better when I smile.

[Drusilla]

In the terrible light in which Im reading this, your eyes look hazel-ish! But I've always thought red hair was the prettiest ever- and yours is the red I'd want my own hair to be, if I weren't terrified of a) looking stupid, and b) having all of my hair fall out.
I guess I'd describe myself as black-eyed (not the kind that come from being punched!), with mad black hair and a round face.

[WendyB]

I'm sometimes nice, with brown hair, brown eyes and full lips.

[Alline]

Oh God, that`s a hard one! I`ll just be realistic: I`m 5ft4, a tad bit overweight (working hard on that one!), olive-gone-fair-due-to-winter skin (I`m brazilian, leave me alone!), extremely curly shoulder lenght dark brown hair, brown eyes. What would I change on all of that? Maybe the overweight part, the rest is fine! =]

[sheshakes]

I'm shortish, carrying a bit of weight, chunky brown bob, round face, smile alot.

[Susanne]

-kind, which largely goes unappreciated,
-always overweight, though i never have anything i shouldn't,
-for the past 6 years my hair has been coloured, about every colour humanly possible, now it's a dark brown mahogany,
-eyes are grey, not greyish, though they can look different depending on eyemakeup,
-and apparently i don't sound foreign, though i am, i just sound posh, which is due to quite a strict teacher.

[Sister Wolf]

I am 5' 6", thin but also fat, depending on time of day. I have huge feet and tiny wrists. Long scraggly black hair, pierced nose,I sometimes wear fake boobs which sometimes fall out of my bra.

I am very tender-hearted and playful, but a complete cunt as well. I am spiteful and never give up a grudge.

[Poochie]

Hmmm...

I don't often describe myself so I have to think about the criteria I would want to use, what's worth mentioning and what isn't.

If I was describing to someone how to recognize me for a first meeting, I guess I would say: long red hair, blue eyes, fair skin, short, wearing heels.

For personality I like to use a quote from a friend. She says when she firts met me she thought I was a bitch but as she got to know me she still thought I was a bitch but she liked it.

One of my biggest assets is I know how to say No.

Luv
Poochie

[Dee]

Oh dear, how to describe myself... Conker brown skin, shoulder-length locks (currently curled, with strawberry blond bits). Cheeky, doe brown eyes, very strong features. 5'6", great legs... Totally gorgeous!

I never put myself down. I just find too many women hold themselves up to impossible standards when invariably they are way better looking than they imagine, which is crying shame. Out with the -ish and in with the Fuckin A, I say.

I try to be kind without becoming a doormat, which I suppose, means I'm not nearly as kind as I think I am... Ah well!

[Queen Michelle]

I always thought your eyes were greenish grey too. Odd.
I must confess I am an 'ish' person too, although I call it my "B" status. I am not entirely of any one thing:
I am not tall enough to be called tall but too tall to be short.
My hair isn't dark enough to be dark brown but too dark to be called light brown.
I'm not soft enough to called pretty but too soft to be called striking.
I have a sense of humour but not enough to be funny.
Etc, etc. But I think as long as you are happy with who you are and accept it, it's cool to be "ish" - it leaves you room to move in any direction.

[Lou]

how would I describe myself? Average.
When I write down how I look I may seem gorgeous [Red hair, hazel eyes, porcelain skin, slim, 5'7", strong cheekbones...] but the reality is Im the kind of person you'd walk past in a street and probably not notice...
Im also the kind of girl that has always been described as "nice". loved by old people, avoided by handsome young men :-(

[Alicia]

I'd say I'm average too.
People always say I'm cute, that bugs me. I want to be sexy!
I'm 5'5, average weight, dark hair, green eyes. That's it. Often I throw in that I'm half portuguese too. I do hate that question though.
Queen Marie, your hair is wonderful. Is it naturally such a vivid red?

[Hannah Cheeto]

"If asked, I would say that I am tallish, with reddish brown hair and greenish grey eyes" haha that's just about how I would describe myself!

Tallish, reddish brown hair, greenish blue eyes, narrowish hips, straightish waist, muscularish (not a word I know!). Oh, and nice. I guess I like to say "ish" because I'm deathly afraid of sounding conceited.

[Lady Smaggle]

I was just thinking about this the other day. I'm very ish too.
I'm tallish, curvy-ish, my hair is curly-ish and dark-ish. It's very wishy washy.
I have very very very blue eyes though. I'm sure of that.

[Erin]

So many people dislike parts of themself it seems, it makes me quite sad.

I admit I have days like that, but mostly, I'm happy. Which I think shows.. I hope so anyway.

<3

[ambika]

What an interesting post. I'll have to give this one some thought...

[Hannh.]

Hmmn.
5'8. Is that all? I wouldn't class it as tall as I have a friend who is of model height at 6'1. So I'll also settle on tallish. Blue eyes, strange, life-of-its-own blonde hair and a belly.

[oh_contraire]

i describe myself as short, blonde, *ahem* curvy, with glasses. i hate to think of myself as interesting, but i hope other people do. according to friends i'm average-ish height and weight, blue (ish, in my opinion) eyes, piercings and crazy hair. isn't it funny how you dont see yourself the way everyone else does?

[raq]

me? black hair, dark brown eyes, blunt snubby nose, crazily sharp cheekbones from both parents, 5'6. a little emotional, and definitely open-minded. sometimes nice.

i still love your red hair.

[enc]

I'll spare you my self-description and just say that I work every day toward James' 1, 2, and 3.

[Guerreira]

That's so interesting to think about...I would describe myself as tall (no ish in this department for me), slim, with blue eyes, nice hair and a big nose! And I believe I look better in person than in pictures...and I try to be kind...

[Amanda]

Let's see...I'm 5'3'', which I suppose is short-ish. I'm rather slim, but my figure is curvy and feminine. I have very short blond hair. My eyes, depending on what I'm wearing, range from grey-blue to bright, deep blue, and they're huge. I'm very pale - I never go out in the sun. I look awful in most photos. In terms of non-physical aspects, I'm intelligent, snarky, thoughtful, and just a little bit neurotic sometimes.

[Jessica]

Oh this is fun, like the circular emails I used to fill in when I was 14, you know, are you blond/brunette, do you like sweet/sour etc.

Ok then, I'm 19, 5'8'' so tall enough I'd say with long legs and small feet. I've dark brown hair, blue eyes and fairest skin on all the make up charts I've ever seen - thanks celtic ancestors! Small staight nose, medium mouth, big eyes. I'm slim-skinny.

I like being clever and photogenic, I hate having OSD and hairy arms!

[Sal]

What a great question, and SO difficult to answer! I'm much more inclined to describe my personality when asked to describe "myself," but as to my bod: I think of myself as quite average. Average height, average weight, average looking. Statistically and aesthetically. Brown hair, brown eyes, freckles, hips, and anti-boobs. I blend.