Simon Says...Everyone’s Looking Good

What’s more important, looking good or feeling good?

The answer for all but the most superficial among us is the latter. And that’s especially true of people with Parkinson’s Disease. Looking good, whether with the help of clothes, hair, makeup, and/or accessory choices just doesn’t seem as important to those of us in the Parkinson’s Club. There’s something so all-encompassing about living with Parkinson’s that for most of us “looking good” just has a lower priority than it does for the able-bodied.

But, speaking anecdotally, as a sample of one, if I could earn a dollar every time somebody who knows I have Parkinson’s tells me “Well, you look good,” I’d be a rich man.

I’m not suggesting for one minute that People with Parkinson’s (PwPs) should wear the same sweatshirt/sweatpants combo to every occasion and every jaunt outside their home. But spending time on one’s look should only be important if it makes you feel good too. Then it’s a win-win. And PwPs know that every win-win, and indeed every win, however small, needs to be put to good use, helping to bring a little more joy into our lives. If ‘looking good’ is important to you and you happen to have PD, then spend all the time you need to make yourself look absolutely fantastic.

If you think about it, telling somebody one knows to have Parkinson’s is “looking good” may also be a defense mechanism. After all, asking someone under the burden of PD “how they’re feeling” could either invite a deeper, more heartfelt response, or an awkward attempt at one. It could also be seen as an invasive question that the Person with PD might not want to answer, at all or with anything more than a halting syllable or two.

Of course, the reasons, in my case, at least, that people tell me I’m ‘looking good’ are in no way malicious. Instead, their statements are often more a function of not knowing enough about the disease (why should they). Even among PwP there is plenty most of us still have to learn about our complex and frustrating affliction, so it’s unfair to blame those who don’t have it for not being students of it.

Having said that, the relationship between Parkinson’s and the rest of the world is getting closer, with much more general awareness of the disease in this country, in Europe, and beyond. PCLA has a big part to play in getting us closer to slowing and eventually curing the disease, through our high quality research facilities and hospitals here in Los Angeles. It wouldn’t be going too far to say that - when it comes to the important stuff like solving the riddle of Parkinson’s, things are, indeed, “looking good”.