I Never Promised You an Organic Garden

That’s right folks, I am a quitter.  I quit the Six Items of Less Challenge yesterday.  It was my second go round, and I was just simply tired of doing it. I made it through day 24 of 30, but couldn’t finish.  I spent a week trying to talk myself out of quitting but didn’t succeed.

The reason I started doing the challenge to begin with was because I had a good time the first time I did it, and I thought I would enjoy it equally this time.  Unfortunately I did not.  I don’t know if it was the clothes I picked or the time of the year or the fact that I was sick for most of it, but I was not into it.  I realized that wearing clothes I didn’t enjoy was affecting my mood. I was spending far too much time stressing in the morning about how I could possibly make the same six items of clothes look different or make me happy about what I was wearing.  But for a long time I wouldn’t allow myself to quit.

I thought I would let people down:  At least a few people have enjoyed seeing my photos each day.

I though people would think less of me:  Who quits a challenge six days before it ends.

I though that Matt would pick on me:  He had a much harder time the first go round but didn’t quit.

I thought it meant I was a failure: I have a very hard time not being able to complete something.

But I realized that if the point of doing this was for enjoyment and I was no longer enjoying it, then it was time to stop. And I think I might have learned more from quitting than finishing.

What I learned

• My friends and family aren’t going to stop loving me just because I don’t succeed at something or if I change my mind.  They don’t like me for what I do or accomplish.  They like me for me.
• I don’t always have to be perfect.  I don’t always have to “win”.  People will not think less of me.

Personally, I think these lessons are more important than anything I might learn about my clothes or my relationship to my clothing.

Outfit for day one

Well it is official: I have lost my mind.  I am going to do the Six Items or Less (SIOL) Clothing Challenge again.  There is an official cycle starting today on the SIOL website, so I am joining the community and jumping in.  For those of you who don’t know or remember what SIOL is, here is a quick reminder. Each cycle of SIOL is 30 days and you choose six articles of clothing to wear for the full 30 days. That does not include: undergarments, socks, shoes, accessories, workout clothes, work issued uniforms, outerwear, or pajamas.

I am still picking out my six items of clothing, but as long as I don’t wear something I still have a few days to make a decision.  It is a lot harder this time to make a decision, because I don’t want to just usethe same clothes I did last time. I actually broke down and borrowed a few items from a wonderful friend so there would be some variety in my wardrobe.  Plus there is the added pressure of living up to my last experience.  I have decided on four main pieces, but I am struggling with the last two.  I am waffling between a purple dress and a pair of black dress pants for one item and a black sweater or something more colorful for the other.

I have selected the following itmes for sure (I’ll post photos once I get them all chosen):

• Dark-wash skinny jeans
• Purple v-neck sweater (One item from last round)
• Grey striped long-sleeve shirt (On loan from a friend)
• Grey button-up shirt (On loan from a friend)

As with last time, I will take a photo of my outfit every day and post it on Facebook. I will also be blogging here and as a part of the SIOL community.

I am a lot more nervous about this round than I was the last one.  Especially with the weather being so cold.  I am worried I’ll end up wearing the same combination all the time just because it is warmer than others.  Either way, it will be an adventure and I am looking forward to learning more about myself and my relationship to clothes.

I mentioned in a pervious blog post that I set as a goal for myself to reach 130lbs by my 30th birthday. I have been working at it for almost a year now, and I am getting so close. I am actually about 3lbs away, and I am still hopeful that I will make it.  However, staying motivated has been especially hard as I get closer to the date. Last night I got some much needed extra motivation.

I went shopping while Matt was at Community of Song practice and found a pair of shorts I loved that were only available in a size 6.  I figured it would be a long shot, but I tried them on.  And…They Fit!  I couldn’t believe it.  I was in a size 10 a year ago, and while there is still a part of me that believes as soon as I publish this post that I will instantly and magically return to my previous size, I wanted to share my joy!

UPDATE: I will post a photo of my cute new shorts later this week!

Today was the last day of my clothing challenge, and I am feeling both excited and anxious.  Excited because I get to wear clothes I have been missing but anxious because I now have too many options.  It feels overwhelming. I have cleaned out a lot of the clothes from my closet, but I still have a ton of options.

Now, I am worried that faced with so many clothing options I will use up my creative energy just trying to figure out what to wear, and I won’t take the time to pull my outfits together with accessories.

So I am faced with the dilemma of what to do next. The clothing I have been wearing for the past month needs a break, so I won’t continue wearing them everyday.  However, I don’t want to just fall back into things as they have always been. So for now, I think I will do a bit more closet cleaning until I am down to just the items I love.  I won’t give myself a number of pieces, but if I don’t love it, I’ll remove it.  The items I remove will go into a box for the time being, and after I am sure I don’t have to have them any more, I’ll give them away.  Either to the Goodwill or to friends.

I will, however, miss taking photos of my outfit everyday and posting them for others to comment on.  It has been a lot of fun and quite a confidence booster.  I wonder if there is someway I can reasonably continue this practice…. thoughts?

This whole process has been quite fun and eye opening,and I will write another blog post soon about what I learned from the whole experience.  Other than the obvious fact that I like to have my photo taken.

Yesterday marks the half way point in my clothing challenge, and I am starting to feel the stress a little.  I have run out of truly unique outfits, and I am now trying to make the same clothes look different with accessories and shoes.  It is definitely getting more difficult.

What is especially interesting is the fact that when I have access to all my clothes, there are outfits I often wear at least once a week or once every two week, and it never bothers me.  However,  take away all my options, and I am desperately trying to keep from repeating.  Go figure!

I have also started to long for one or two more options.  Particularly, I have been wanting to wear my grey turtleneck sweater and my purple corduroy pants. I guess that means I have picked out the first items I’ll be adding back into my wardrobe when I reach the end.

If you want to see my outfits so far, checkout my facebook photo album

Today I am officially one third of the way through my clothing challenge, and so far it is going surprisingly well.  I am just now starting to repeat total outfits, but when you count accessory and shoe options, I will likely never have to totally repeat a look.

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It is the end of the first work week of my six items or less challenge, and so far things are going well.  Probably better than I expected, but it is only day four. I have enjoyed the challenge, but despite my expectations to the contrary, it has actually been taking longer to figure out what to wear in the morning.  Due mostly to my attempts to come up with creative accessories to make my outfits exciting.  So far I have used my scarf as a belt, worn my cute black dress with a button-up shirt under it, and played with striking jewelry combinations.  All things I had never thought to try before this week.  It has been fun.

Even though it has only been one week, I am already starting to think about what will happen at the end. Probably based on the fun I have had this week, I am energized to really use this as a chance for a change.  I currently have a closet full of tons of clothes that range from a few items I love to pieces I avoid wearing at all costs.  Mostly consisting of inexpensive pieces that look nice in the store but start to lose their shape and style after one or two washes. After a week of really focusing on how my outfits look and wearing items I really love and I feel look good on me, I realize that the way I was previously thinking about my clothes is not the way I want to continue moving forward.

So, for the time being, when the challenge is over I am considering adding one or two pieces to my wardrobe at a time instead of jumping back in all at once.  That way I can purposefully only add back clothes I love and that fit well.  Then I can take stock of my wardrobe and decide what pieces might be missing and what from my old wardrobe that I won’t miss if I give it away.

I still have weeks to make these decisions, of course.  But it is fun to start thinking about it now.

Today is day one of my six items or less clothing challenge, and I did not anticipate how hard it would be select six items of clothing I would want to wear for the next month.  I have been thinking about what items I would select for weeks, but when it came time to make the final decision, I was nearly paralyzed by indecision.  As Matt and I looked over our clothes, I kept lamenting that I hadn’t started a seven or eight items or less clothing challenge.  If I could just add one or two more pieces, I would be golden.  But I guess that is why this is a challenge. (more…)

I have decided to try an experiment and participate in the Six Items or Less challenge. According to the Six Items or Less website, the idea of the challenge is to pick six items of clothing (not six outfits) and for 30 days only wear those items.  Sounds crazy, right?

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Very Exciting News: I have finished my first hand knitted wool sweater.  I started this in February, and I just finished sewing up the sleeves at 9:30pm this evening.  I still need to take the time to block it, but it is totally wearable at this moment.  For all you non-knitters, blocking is dousing a completed project in water and pinning it out into the final shape you want.  This helps to work out uneven stitches, ensure proper length and width, and generally improves the final look of your project.

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