Do I Have A Good Sense Of Taste?

[T]aste is a quality so intangible that it can’t even be defined. But we know it when we meet it. ~ William Zinsser, On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition

I remember during a unit in my AP Psychology Class, a series of small projects were assigned to us. One of which was to ask at least 30 people to write one word that describes us on a piece of paper, and then we had to find trends in what people said. One of the three most common descriptors people gave to me, which has stuck with me for a long time, was “eccentric”.

ec·cen·tric

/ikˈsentrik/

adjective

adjective: eccentric

1. 1. (of a person or their behavior) unconventional and slightly strange.

While I feel that nowadays people who would usually be called eccentric are beginning to set trends and be seen as people to look up to and admire, I feel like my eccentricities don’t always work that way. So when in William Zinsser’s On Writing Well it said that I had to keep taste in mind, it feels like it may be in conflict with me finding an individual voice. I sometimes feel like my clothing taste is quite childish and whimsical, my taste in food rather childish too and quite limited (though I am trying to get better about it), and my media tastes kinda oscillate between what is appropriate for my age and what is not. I’ve never really followed trends very much, so I worry that I won’t be tuned into good taste. I never really felt like I fit in, even in the crowds of misfits. I just hope that my authentic voice is good enough,