While most of you may think that the Nice Girl population is extinct, there are still a few of them in stock. With sweet smiles, modest attitudes, and a humbleness to boot, the Nice Girl is one you will meet on the first day of your Literature 201 class. It's 8 a.m., and she's had too much coffee, but she says hello to you anyway, and asks how your weekend was, because she's just that nice. The Nice Girl is one who will let you cross the street with 14 other cars behind her while the light is yellow, just because you used the crosswalk. The Nice Girl is the one who will ask you to come to the movies with her, and when you say you're broke, she assures you that you're paid for already.
The Nice Girl has a lot of different qualities to her niceness. She is usually very talkative, her personality matching the amounts of bright clothing she wears. Her eyes are bright always, and there is never not a copious amount of sunshine in her voice. She will live for days just like that, and wear flower crowns in her hair. She is so sharing, that if you even look the least bit pale, she will go out of her way to tell you a funny story or engage you in a tickle war. She has a laugh that could burst her own eardrum, and she laughs from her belly all the way. She loves to laugh, but even more than that, she loves to see other people happy.
We might all love the Nice Girl, but you may be astonished to realize that maybe she's so nice to others that she has no niceness left over for herself. Nice Girls could be, in fact, hiding something inside of them that is not so nice. Sure, it could be easy to be optimistically optimistic, but do you know that for sure?
There are significant levels to being a Nice Girl.
She will never tell you if you're hurting her.
Even if they are seemingly happy, there is something inside every person that grinds against the membrane and spews out insecurity. For instance, if she finds that another girl is flirting with her boyfriend, and he doesn't stop her, she'll probably keep quiet about. If a family member comments on her weight, and she's subjected herself to starving and binging for the past few months, she will laugh it off and never object. Confrontations are scary for the Nice Girl and she could never be rude by saying how she really feels.
She is easy to take advantage of, because she's nice.
Although nobody deserves to be the walking mat for others to step on, the Nice Girl often finds herself in situations where it does happen. People often speaking over her and what she wants, her boss convincing her to come into work on her personal day because "they really need the extra help;" it is a cycle that never ends. Many people will mistake the Nice Girl and her kind spirit for weakness, but, it doesn't stop her from spreading the happy.
She will always give, without taking.
If anyone ever needs Advil, tampons, a few extra dollars for lunch, or a hug, the Nice Girl has an inventory to give. Perhaps, her endless supply is a reservoir from all of the things she has found herself needing in the past, and the experience from being without has been painful, and she wouldn't want anyone to have to go through it themselves? Either way, she will never allow anyone to be without. She will always do her damnedest to help, but never ask for it herself. She would hate for her kindness to be up for a trade.
She is the advice column in her group of friends.
When the lives of her friends seem to be spiraling downward, she will go out of her way to keep them elevated. Anywhere from boy issues to daily vents about harsh professors, the Nice Girl will consult each and every friend she has, no matter how many times she's heard the same thing over and over. Lucy from Peanuts will charge five cents for psychiatric help, but not the Nice Girl. She will hold her friends and wipe their tears over Starbucks drinks or on the bed of their shared dorms at 2:30 a.m. The maternal spirit inside of the Nice Girl is like a shower overflowing, and her advice column is in popular demand.
She will love you, before she loves herself.
Perhaps the worst problem with the Nice Girl is that she will love other people before she can begin to love herself. While she will tell you to love your body and encourage you to quit jobs that have mean coworkers, she couldn't offer herself the same solace. There might be a storm brewing in her mind about the way she looks, or the mistakes she's made, but she will stop at nothing to make sure other people are in an irrevocable love with themselves. This is almost her job.
To all the Nice Girls out there -- you're doing the world a beautiful service. But, remember to reserve just a little bit for you, too. Be nice to yourself and don't let your niceness to others be where the Nice Girls finish.