There Are Life Lessons in Pet Peeves by Teresa Chico

I have a lot of pet peeves.

I think that comes with growing up in a place like New York City and not really being a “people” person. The minute you can talk, you learn that Times Square is for tourists and people suck, even other New York natives. I hate when I’m walking somewhere and someone else is walking towards me and we get into that awkward situation where we both try to move out of each other’s way but accidentally end up moving into each other. I hate when people save only one or the crumbs of a snack for the next person to eat as if that’s gonna satisfy a hungry person.

But the thing that drives me the absolute craziest and might be the most illogical, is when people sit on my bed in their outside clothes. “Outside clothes” are any clothes that you have worn outside. Inside clothes are clothes that you have never worn outside, so for me, that’s mostly pajamas and shirts that I buy at concerts for no reason. If you have a pajama shirt and you take it outside, it automatically becomes an outside shirt, even if you never wear it outside again.

Now, outside clothes are allowed to be worn inside, but they aren’t allowed in my bed. Here’s where it gets a little tricky. Outside clothes can be worn when sitting on a made bed, but there is absolutely no reason for outside clothes to touch the inside of the bed. So for example, I can come home from work and sit on my perfectly made bed, but if I wanted to take a nap, I would have to change to inside clothes before going under the covers. Otherwise, while I’m napping, I’m gonna be thinking about the germs on the train seat that I sat on and the bugs in the grass that I laid on all napping with me. In my bed. And that would drive me a little crazy. 

So maybe now you’re listening to this and you’re like, “Uhhhh I think you’re already a little crazy” and you’re wondering why I chose to spend my five minutes telling you about my outside clothes rule. But as I was deciding what I was going to share with you all today, I thought this would be the closest analogy to one of the biggest lessons that I have learned in life.

I feel like I have developed an “outside” version of myself that other people know on varying levels and an “inside” version of myself that I keep close to my heart and to myself. I taught myself to take my losses in silence and to present a version of myself that seems outgoing, comfortable, and sure of myself. We’re living in a day and age where this is so widely accepted to be this way. We get accepted into a program or a school and we post it on social media and change our bios. We get into relationships and we post it on social media. We go on vacation and we post our 20th pic on social media because the first one probably wasn’t good enough.

Last week I got a 57% on a midterm. Two weeks ago, I was denied for an internship. This week I got accepted to two different summer internships and my professor canceled the final and decided to make it a reflection instead. It’s important to share the good and the bad. The failures and the successes. Because that’s how we learn and that’s how we relate to each other.

And for a lot of us, this can be applied to our writing. Whether that’s sharing your first draft with someone or putting yourself and your own personal stories into your writing. Positive stories and maybe the ones that you aren’t so proud of and everything in between. Life is about taking these risks and sharing your inside personality and your outside personality. 

Be honest with yourself and with others and don’t feel the need to present a squeaky clean version of who you are or a version of your writing that others will like. I’m learning that it’s not good to be too much of a stickler about your outside clothes. Sometimes old outside clothes end up being pajamas and that’s okay too.

About Teresa: Teresa Chico grew up in New York City, telling stories as early as she was able to talk. She currently attends Bates College in Maine as a double major in Rhetoric, Film & Screen Studies, and Africana Studies. She hopes to work in the film industry in the future.