It’s amazing how one small
change can make a big difference.
It’s not like this is a
new concept for me—in fact I’ve known it for several years. I’m a huge advocate
of change and adapting as necessary in order to improve, evolve, or grow. In my
role at Cummins prior to my leave, driving change was basically my job.
Yet, in my personal life
it’s been easy to forget.
Now that I work out of the
home, this is how I dress pretty much every day.
What you have here are
your basic comfy pants in black (gray or purple on the odd occasion), a loose
shirt, and a long sweater. In the winter it’s a long sleeve sweater (gray), and
in the summer the pants are the same but shorter (and sometimes a shorter sweater). Even when I worked at Cummins
it was the same look, but amped up for work—the pants were still comfy (and
black) but they were dress slacks, and I wore a black jacket in place of the
sweater.
I started layering when my
hormonal problems began, and I experienced severe temperature swings. However,
when the hot/cold flashes stopped the sweaters remained. I no longer wore them
for warmth, but to hide. I didn’t like my arms showing and felt better when my
back side was covered up. Occasionally I’d change up the bottom half and wear a pair of jeans, as long as I
knew I wouldn’t have to be in them for long. They weren’t comfortable, and I
always had a ‘muffin top’ that I had to add another layer to control.
So I defaulted to comfort.
Comfort in the loose fitting clothes, and comfort in knowing that the areas of my
body I didn’t like were covered up.
As I was getting dressed
today, I grabbed a pair of those go-to pants automatically. However I paused
before putting them on. I’ve claimed that I’ve learned to love myself for who I
am, so why can’t I wear clothes that don’t cover everything up?
I put those pants back and
put this on instead.
Today I have to go grocery
shopping, run my daughter to gymnastics, to the orthodontist, and then back to
gymnastics. Then I’m home getting work done (either on the computer or around
the house). I would have never considered wearing jeans on a day like today. It’s the kind of day where comfort is very appealing.
But you know what? I feel
so different today in my ‘non-standard’ outfit. I feel like I’m making changes.
I feel lighter without all those layers to hide behind. It makes me want to
keep working hard for more progress.
Change feels good. No more
hiding.
(You might still see the
sweater from time to time—I do live in Indiana after all where the weather
changes in the snap of a finger!)
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