The February Challenge: Outdoors → 9-5 Wardrobe

Week Three: Outlining a system for assessing and reimagining the wardrobe you already own.

- From living in your Subaru to 9-5 job interview -

Finding *Your* Style

What do we wear during weeks when we are overwhelmed?

I don’t know all of you but I know many of you. Which means I know many of you have been going above and beyond this week. You’re going to work serving coffee and pastries, you’re also organizing recently terminated federal worker friends. You’re raising toddlers and you’re calling your representatives. You’re applying for jobs and helping your friends understand complex, civic issues.

This week, I was often at my office for hours before I ever looked down to see what clothing I had put on.

This is where a succinct and style-aligned wardrobe comes in handy. The work you do now on your wardrobe means that on the weeks when you “can’t even”, you still show up looking and feeling like yourself. What you wear should be the least overwhelming or confusing part of your day, almost all days.

I also think, in a strange way, this week’s homework is perfectly suited for this stressful moment. When we are in highly-intellectual or even fight or flight brain-spaces, sometimes a tactile chore (laundry, dishes, yard work) can bring us back to our bodies, back to our homes, and back to ourselves.

And I often find this process helps me feel less scarcity or want. The urge to buy (thanks capitalism) fades and instead I feel deep gratitude and appreciation for what I do have already.

I’d love to hear what systems you use to cull and refine what you bring into your home. Leave a comment, or reply to this e-mail!

-Emerald