So at various points in my life I decided to modify how I looked. Sometimes I changed the way I dressed, sometimes I cut my hair dramatically, and sometimes I modified my body. I got the more I was willing to stand out from the crowd, and that took courage. I don't have to change my body to stick out like a sore thumb, of course. All I have to do is open my mouth and everyone knows what kind of weirdo I am.
Body modification is decorative and primitive.
I seem to require periodically putting my comfort level on the line in this way. In return, I get a sense of control over what I do with my life, and the exhilarating rush of making a serious commitment to looking different. Sure, in this day and age having an itty bitty nose stud isn't wildly radical. Indian women have been doing it for hundreds of years, and teenagers have been getting some amazingly ugly piercings for the last ten. But it's different enough that I was plenty nervous about the aftermath.