Some things I’ve enjoyed reading lately:
Neela is one of my favorite bloggers out there because she writes so well and her words often resonate with me. I also find that she’s a great role model when it comes to lessening consumption and thinking about our clothes. Her 2021 Style Resolutions has given me a lot to think about, especially #7. Here is one of my favorite paragraphs of her post:
“Being content is supposed to be easy, but has continued to be the harder part of minimalism. No one warned me about the monkey mind that jumps around refusing to calm down. The years of grazing on fashion as an escape from life, has not helped. Reaching out to fashion every time my heart takes a down dive, has only made things worse in the long run. The un-do-ing is taking more time than I would have liked. Mindfulness is a practice.”
I’m not trying to be a minimalist (I’ve given up on that awhile ago), but at the same time I don’t want to be an excessive maximalist (because I really don’t want to be spending so much time thinking/buying/organizing/getting rid of stuff). I’m trying to find my own happy middle ground. And it’s a bit like treading water: if you stop being conscious about your consumption, you’re going to sink back into old habits of over-buying (uh just take a look at what I bought in January 🤦🏻♀️). Continuing this analogy, there are people who have learned how to float in the sea of consumption. I want to be one of those people. Maybe it’s all about something else to consume your mind?
I also liked Dacy’s post about being condition to accept being uncomfortable in our clothes. I think she has some good points about being “patriarchy perfect” (basically dressing for the male gaze). These days I am uncomfortable in my clothes thanks to 15 pounds of pandemic weight gain. But I don’t want to buy more clothes in bigger sizes (especially since I really do love my clothes) so I’m just either wearing my floaty, loose dresses (most days) or wearing elastic waist pants (which are also on the tight side *sigh*). Since getting my apple watch I’ve been more active but I haven’t started the dieting which I know would really shed the pounds (and by diet I mean no sugar, less white carbs and more veggies—things that I know are also good for my health overall). Anyway I no longer dress for the male gaze but dang it, I want to feel good in my own clothes again.