Monday, November 17, 2014

The 5 and 5 Challenge: Finals, A Mid-20s Crisis, and My Closet

via www.somecard.com
The end of term is rapidly approaching, my graduation is impending, and the snow has arrived, signalling the emergence of a mid-20s crisis. Of course, my natural reaction is to contemplate existential questions, like who am I? What am I doing here? What will I do next? How will I face the winter? As I think about the answers to these questions, I remind myself how I came to figure out who I was in the first place (before I entered college): Fashion. To the average mind, this realization may appear superficial, unfounded, and banal. How can fashion resolve our existential crisis? The truth is that it can't. It can facilitate the road to self-discovery. It can help us find out a little more about our deeply ingrained characteristics. But can it get us through the brutal stages of emerging adulthood? Probably not.

However, there is one aspect of fashion allows us to reinvent ourselves as we embark upon a new life stage. It is no coincidence that when we finish high school, we're inclined to cut our hair shorter and adopt a more mature look to suit the persona we hope to embody as we exit adolescence. We want to change a physical aspect of our appearance to match our internal state of change and renewal. Once again, we're faced with this powerful desire to reinvent ourselves. What better way than to clean out our closets? Now, I'm not telling you to stop your studying and start your cleansing just yet. But when you are ready, I invite you to join me on in a cleansing challenge.

Part of what my blog stands for is staying real, avoiding trends, and dressing in a way that feels like you. In a previous blog post, I spoke about shopping mistakes and now is the time to eliminate them from your closet. Here is the challenge:

Look into your closet and select the 5 items that your love most. Think long and hard about what makes them special to you. What do you love most about these pieces? Do you wear them more than any other? Are they associated with a special memory? Do they make you feel more attractive? Were they a splurge? Now, once you've selected your pieces, think of 5 ways these items make you feel like your best and more genuine self.

Though this may sound like a very simple challenge, it may actually help you learn a little bit more about the current you in the process. Over the course of this week, with my birthday approaching, I've decided to list one item per day that makes me feel real and the five reasons I chose it.

FIRST ITEM: My Rachel Zoe black 'Elliot' booties


Reasons I love them:
1) The block heel ensures comfort and style (I can spend hours in these beauties and barely feel any pain)
2) They make me feel tall and glamorous (like Rachel Zoe, essentially)
3) They make every outfit look instantly better (jeans, dresses, overalls, you name it)
4) They're multi-seasonal.
5) They're the perfect mix between feminine and edgy that defines every fibre of my being.

If you'd like, please join me and stay tuned every day for a new item. You don't have to publicize it, but try it as an activity and you might feel a little better about the unwritten future ahead of you.

Happy Monday!

XOXO,

Bella

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