I got the message loud and clear. Buy the orange dress! So many of you sent me the link to this totally awesome orange dress from Quince. I was hesitant as they listed the color as red-something but turns out that it is 100% Orange Rhino orange and I love it. Do you know how I felt the moment I put it on?! HAPPY. Alive. Confident. Frigging awesome. It is so adorable and awesome and on brand lol. This picture isn’t the best one of me that I took (slight wardrobe malfunction, whatevers) but the best of the dress.
I will have to wear it again (easy!) and do a real photo shoot. But let’s step back for a moment and gain some perspective. I’m Sheila – a girl who from afar has loved clothes, especially dresses. I’ve loved getting dressed up. I’ve dreamed of dressing up more often. One thing I miss from my work days? My suits. My business outfits. My feeling sharp and put together. I’ve had a goal since January to “Put on Confident Clothes” every day.
No more just staying in workout clothes all day (except for when working around the house or in the yard or well, when life happens and other exceptions lol.) I finally listened to myself and leaned into my desire to dress up more. I finally listened and leaned into my desire to feel more confident on a daily, not a moment by moment basis. I finally listened and leaned into the fact I wanted to embrace: WHO CARES what people think if I go out in all orange and I am unapologetically, 100% bright?!
I’ve been putting on my “Confidence Clothes” (yep that is what it says as a task in my phone) daily and guess what?! Ladies, can I tell you how awesome it feels?! To listen to my heart, to lean into my desires, to have FUN?! To have a pep in my step?! I always felt clothes and fashion were unattainable for me because I am just not fashion forward, never really have been. No offense to my mom (who is totally reading this) but she wasn’t one to teach me about fashion.
We have very different styles. VERY different styles. I didn’t even learn about makeup or doing my hair. Any of that stuff. Not the end of the world, for sure. She taught me other things that mattered more – kindness, compassion, courage, yada yada (there you go mom, happy mother’s day.) But fashion, make-up, and accessorizing are things I’ve longed to learn about, to be good at.
And now I’m letting myself explore and have fun and I feel so much lighter as a result. What we wear matters. It does impact how we feel!
So thank you all for sending me the link to the dress! It truly energized me yesterday and made me feel better, helped me feel more me after days of feeling flat, dull and blech. May is mental health awareness month (should’ve made that my M, mental health!) Being honest with myself that I actually love clothes, honoring this insight and desire, and being 100% unapologetic about this side of me?! Oh it is so good for my mental health.
Being true to me – a key to my mental health. And as I write that, I feel I need to be even more honest with myself about other things. That includes sharing things with all of you. Hmmm, maybe next week. It’s been weighing on my mind and I’m ready to feel more free, more light. It’s Mental Health Awareness month after all and mental health matters to me, big time!
I’m curious…do you feel you are totally honest with yourself? Do you know when you aren’t telling yourself the truth? When you’re ignoring what your heart is saying? I do and ugh. I’m getting better at listening (only took a couple of years lol.) Happy FriYAY my friends! I hope you feel confident and comfortable and content in whatever you wear today – literally and figuratively.
Sending my warmth to go with your strength, today and always, especially if what you put on today, literally or figuratively, doesn’t feel right. I hope you can take one action to feel better.
xoxo, Sheila
🧡 The Orange Rhino
