Beauty is like money. We think life will be easier if we have it, but it just distracts us from what’s important.

Beauty can be a gift and a curse. A gift in that people tend to be nicer to you if you’re attractive, and a curse in that people may not take you seriously.

It’s unfortunate, but it happens. It even happens to me.

If I see someone incredibly attractive, I think, “How could they ever worry about anything looking like that?” But people with perfect bone structures can feel depressed or overwhelmed, too.

Even stores are preoccupied with beauty.

Abercrombie and Fitch is the one store you feel like you have to be attractive just to walk into.

The last time I went, a shirtless male model greeted me at the door, as if the giant poster of some man’s pecks wasn’t intimidating enough. After getting past the saturated perfume stench and blaring techno music, I went to the back of the store where the vibe wasn’t so intense.

While looking at $40 T-shirts, an employee with annoyingly white teeth approached me and asked, “Are you currently employed? Because if you aren’t, you’re just the kind of person that we look for to work here.”

Apparently Abercrombie hires based on looks. And they’re not the only ones beauty counts with.

“Overwhelming evidence suggests that physical beauty has an adaptive mechanism for the promotion and evolutionary advancement of the species,” according to the Chicago Health Medical Staff.

It’s survival of the finest.

But just because some people get ahead at work based on their looks doesn’t mean their attractiveness is going to help them elsewhere.

When it comes to relationships, real love has nothing to do with looks. Even gorgeous Jessica Alba split up with her man.

Being attractive doesn’t make it easier to find and keep love. If anything, you’re more likely to find someone who’s just attracted to your looks and not everything else you have to offer.

Beauty also affects sex.

Being attractive may allow for more sexual opportunities but also more chances to get hurt.

If people think they’re with someone who likes them when the person’s only attracted to them, there’s a feeling of being used.

We also assume that beauty and promiscuity go together. But not everyone is getting lucky.

GQ named Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima, 26, the world’s most voluptuous virgin.

Lima told GQ that “Sex is for after marriage. Men have to respect that this is my choice. If there’s no respect that means they don’t want me.”

But it’s hard to give someone respect if they’re not taken seriously to begin with.

Attractive people don’t get the respect they deserve because people assume they’re only good at being beautiful.

By using beauty, some think they have the power to get anything they want.

I thought that by looking amazing, I could make any guy wish he had me. I’ve found, though, that it goes deeper than that.

If you’re incompatible, looks don’t matter. Beauty could be what brings two people together, but it’s not what’s going to keep them together.

So though you may be treated a little differently if you’re attractive, beauty doesn’t make life easier — unless you’re applying for a job at Abercrombie.

The Orion is the student newspaper at California State University, Chico