Progress in Changing it Up.

Just in case you were wondering, I’ve taken this past week or so to take my own advice and try to shake up my life a little. Honestly, so far I am happy with the results.

First of all, I had an outfit in my closet that I had never worn. I had bought it because I really liked it (even though it wasn’t very “me”). However, it spent many days and nights wasted in my closet because I felt weird wearing it—I didn’t feel like me because I was convinced I couldn’t “pull it off”. I thought this would be the perfect place to start my change experiment.

I wore the outfit, feeling a little uneasy at first, but feeling so much better once I moved away from the mirror. The outfit was comfortable and cute—I even got some compliments. Now, I believe that you shouldn’t need compliments to feel good about yourself (but I also don’t deny that they can really help sometimes). In this case, the compliments helped me to realize that I am the only one with that power to decide what is “me” and what’s not.

I’m not a vain person, but I started with clothes because I have the tendency to use them as my outlet of artistic expression. I am not artistic in the conventional sort of way, so using clothes is fun for me—which makes this a major break through I think. If I feel like what I am “allowed” to wear is restricted than I feel like I am being restricted. Breaking through that feels good.

After the clothes, I took people’s suggestions on other things—mainly movies. I have watched so many movies in the past week that I would have never considered. I loved some, hated others and enjoyed every minute of it because I realized the bigger picture: that I can miss out on SO much with every “no” that makes its way past my lips.

I wanted to post this update because I’m headed to New York City tomorrow on a 7am flight and I have no doubt that I will have plenty of opportunities to say “yes” instead of “no”. This has been my progress so far and I intend to let NYC catapult me into greater open-mindedness.

I hope you’re trying to open your mind too. I’m not trying to make it sound like a walk in the park. It can take effort and be scary or uncomfortable. But after those feelings pass, its incredibly freeing—even the small steps.