A downside of campaigning:

I shave now on any day I'll be out doing campaign work, so that means pretty much every day, at most 2 days in between shaving.

And, I can't look like shit when I go to the grocery store.

It really is like you're trading a part of yourself away, and are always guarded with what other people might think about you, even if they talk with you or see you just briefly.

It's like you get all boxed in, and must nurture a private self apart from your public presentation, which really isn't you anymore.

This really is an act of self-discipline above all else, much more than I'd ever expected, though I always knew it would involve some.

When it really boils down to it, it's not the strategy so much or the social media presence or whatnot, it's the day-to-day guardedness that's the challenge, at least for me, and it's more a challenge than anything I've faced in a while.

It's like constant self-awareness in all ways.

I almost wonder if it's shit like they used to teach aristocratic women, on how to properly eat at table so you appear all dainty and attractive and shit like that.

Maybe it's more like that, actually.  "Mannered."