We are heading to do a little shopping at the outlet stores nearby and as I was mentally preparing to go, I needed to do a little rearranging in my closet. So I stood in my bedroom and started to think about what things I had decided had come to the end of their lifespan with me and what things I couldn't do without.
I do this a couple of times a year, mostly as the seasons really change from warm to cold and back again. But this time, I started to think about what else needs to be put out into thrift. What do I need to get rid of in order to make room for the new things? Not just clothes, but in my attitude and life in general.
We all go through periods of purging in our lives. Time to redo the furniture, clothes, a new coat of paint, renovate the bathroom and kitchen, but when was the last time we purged some of our attitudes and habits?
It is obvious that it is time to get rid of some clothes when the drawers don’t close. Those old sweatshirts that are so comfortable but we never wear because they look terrible and take up so much room in our closets. Mentally we wear the same old sweatshirts. We just don’t realize it. We all have our ‘go to’ outfits, but we also have our ‘go to’ attitudes and ideas.
I think it’s time to do a little attitude purging and send some of our old ideas out and replace them with new ones. Changing our wardrobe is way simpler than changing our attitudes. We can see on other people the new style. We see what we like and what we don’t like. We still need to try items on. Do a little shopping. Change our mind. Pick the right color. And then we even need to make sure it’s in our price range and we have prepared our budget for the purchase. Do we do this with our mindset? I would take a guess and say no.
Is somebody else’s attitude as visible as their clothes? Is it easy to find that attitude? What do we do with ours when we decide we want to change ours? How do we know when it’s time to change our attitude? When is our attitude outdated? How do we find a new one? Are we really sure we want a new one?
These are all really tough questions and when it comes down to it, maybe that is why we all seem to have closets bursting with clothes and our attitudes suck. If we truly want change, then we need to do the hard thing and change our attitude. We need to change our attitude toward several things. Towards food, towards exercices, toward how we spend our time, who we spend it with, and mostly towards how we feel about ourselves. Cleaning out the closet may be and should be done at the same time as changing our thoughts. Spend some time looking at how you think about what being healthy really looks like. Are you really prepared to make the change? There is no point in starting this process unless you are actually prepared to throw out the old and embrace the new.
There actually needs to be room in your mind to accept that there are going to be some tough stuff to go through to get to where you want to be. Change is hard. We know this. That is why our attitudes are sometimes so outdated, it’s tough to realize that we need to stay as updated with our thoughts as we want to be about our fashion.
The whole world has been changing its views on so many big things, racism, sexism, fat shaming, religious persecution, some really big things. We should be able to handle our attitudes on what a healthy body is for ourselves and what it will take to have one. What it will look like and how long it may take to get there and the changes we will be willing to make to get there.
So, one step at a time, decide you are ready to change.
- Ready?
- Go!
- Phew, that was hard.
But, that really is the biggest step you need to make. The rest will all just follow. It’s as simple as walking. You learned how to do that and you still are managing that.
Age and size are only numbers. It's the attitude you bring to clothes that make the difference. – Donna Karan
