Playing to one's strengths does not mean avoiding one's weaknesses.

 　　When I was learning makeup at a beauty school, my teacher told us that makeup is about highlighting your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses. We use cosmetics like highlighter, contour, eyebrow powder, eyeshadow, blush, eyeliner, lip liner, and lipstick to modify our face shape and features. A single makeup look usually takes two hours to complete. Once, a German makeup artist came to teach, and I had the opportunity to have him do my makeup. He finished in just five minutes, and I was very satisfied with my look. He said my eyes were beautiful, so focusing on making them look pretty was enough. For my downturned mouth, he only applied a little clear lip gloss. His view was: highlight your strengths, not your weaknesses. No one's features are perfect. Makeup isn't plastic surgery; sometimes, trying to conceal flaws only makes them worse. It's better to let your best features shine and attract attention, diverting attention from the flaws.

　　My classmate, Da Liu, lives in the suburbs. After graduating from high school, he worked for a company, later married and had children, and has been living in his old family house ever since. Seeing his peers buying apartments in the county town, Da Liu felt anxious. Unfortunately, it wasn't easy for a working-class person to save up for a house. For over a decade, Da Liu still longed to live in an apartment. He had been saving money tirelessly, feeling that investing even a penny in his increasingly unpleasant old house would be a huge waste.

　　This year, Da Liu suddenly posted pictures of his old house on social media. The front yard had flowers, the backyard vegetables, the house was covered in ivy, a birdcage hung on the balcony, his dog lingered at the gate, and several chickens leisurely strolled and pecked at the ground. Everyone liked the pictures and envied Da Liu's "Shangri-La." Da Liu said that for twenty years he had envied his classmates who lived in apartments and had worked hard to buy one himself, but now he had given up the pursuit. At the beginning of the year, he spent 100,000 yuan renovating his old house, installing plumbing and a bathroom inside. He felt there was no difference between a single-story house and an apartment. Students commented that with the development of the suburbs, owning a large house with a yard there would be the envy of many.

　　Da Liu had envied others' lives for twenty years, never imagining that his own life was being envied by others. Sometimes, life requires an attitude of playing to one's strengths and not ignoring one's weaknesses. Instead of blindly envying others, it's better to discover one's own light and happily enjoy what one has in the present.

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