When You Hear The Word CLOSET?

Standing in or in front of a closet is one of the most common events that occur for women. Everything that happens in our lives seems to start and end in our closet; don’t believe me? Well, If you’ve reached the 30 mark, you’ve worn numerous outfits; some of which are still in your closet, far beyond the day you purchased them. Those same clothes tell a story about the ladies that wear them.

Sometimes they are a direct reflection of all those things going on in your life. As for me, I’ve always been associated with clothes because I love fashion and styling, and I couldn’t stay out of the stores. But at one point in my life going into my closet became depressing. What word comes to mind when you think of your closet? My closet became the collector of all things.

Closet Inventory

There was one particular morning that was different than any other morning. I stood in my closet and realized that I was having a well-needed epiphany; which was that I hated everything I owned! Now, I wasn’t shocked by the thought alone, but more so, how did I end up with all of this stuff? I looked at my clothes and wondered how did I ever manage to get dressed before today? How did I ever physically put on clothes that I felt so disconnected from?

While I was standing in my mix-match pj’s,  I wondered whether I was having wardrobe boredom or another type of wardrobe malfunction. I also thought of the possibility that I had become a product of my career. Ladies if you are working 8-12 hours a day, wouldn’t it make perfect sense that your career clothes make up the majority of your closet’s inventory? I truly wondered if other women were standing in their closets hating everything they owned as well……..

After all, I did manage to put clothes on every morning; as well as yesterday morning and the morning before that – it had become robotic. How did I unintentionally derail from my love of fashion?


Closet or Chore

Later, I recall the day my friend Shirley told me she looked forward to seeing what I would be wearing every time all the ladies got together. Little did she know that the demands of my career, family, and taking care of so many priorities had simultaneously attributed to my entire wardrobe’s decline. Like most women, I started feeling like my time was more in demand. Because of this, my closet became a chore so it was the first thing to go. Isn’t it just a natural thing to disconnect from something that doesn’t function the same?

Besides, dealing with the dysfunction and disconnect couldn’t possibly be getting me off to the type of start I deserve in my morning, right? Naturally, there are obvious ways a disorganized closet full of clothes influences the start of your day; such as wasting your time and adding stress.  Perhaps the way we treat our closet reflects the way we treat ourselves. Hell, I did feel run down and tired with my career, kids, finances, divorce, marriage, and the list went on………

Reorganize

My closet had become a direct reflection of me letting go. The stress of carrying it all contributed to my robotic behavior of getting dressed. I forgot to reward myself with looking good. Why? Because as women, it also makes us feel good. Everything was moving so quickly that I had inadvertently stopped doing the things I loved the most. It was time to reorganize my closet and reorganize my life. I was throwing clothes on the floor because I felt tired and my closet looked tired too. I stopped buying things I loved to wear because I had a closet full of clothes which mostly were from 10 years ago! There is nothing wrong with holding on to things as long as they hold value and they grow WITH you.  However, my closet didn’t reflect that and more importantly, it didn’t reflect me.

Reflection

Listen up mothers, ladies, females, women, she, her, us; we put everything before us in an effort to make our house a home. However, by the time we look up we’ve left ourselves behind; but have accomplished the world. I thought, if I don’t smell the roses, I may smell the dirt before I get the opportunity to take care of myself. And that ‘ain’t’ cool! God didn’t put me here to be half of my whole self. It wasn’t until someone I loved and respected noticed the change in my attire and had the guts to question what was going on with me. It was then I realized I could no longer procrastinate, it was time to stop dressing like no one is watching.