Over the years, I accumulated clothing like its going out of style, and I'm not really the type of person to throw away them either. Actually if I think about it, I've had a hard time throwing away a lot of things—cards would be one of those items. Even though I'm not a card person, I myself, have a very hard time disposing of them. I'd find some excuse as to why I should keep it just a little while longer while shoving it in the back of some drawer or box I had laying around. The same thing went for clothes, I would have some fond memory attached to come article of clothing or some strange idea that I would eventually wear it—which by the way, never happened.
Over the time span of my life, I've received my fair share of hand-me-downs; which I'm thankful for, so don't get me wrong. While it's nice to have "new" yet not new clothes that you can work with, it also made it that much harder to get rid of the things I wasn't wearing. I always felt bad, 'I like it but it just isn't me' yet I would still keep it because I would feel bad. Although I love second hand stores and have found some really great finds, those aren't the "hand-me-downs" I'm talking about. I'm talking about the good ol' fashion family pass downs from big cousins and sisters. The ones that will actually see if you are wearing what you gave them... those hand-me-downs. These people who give me their clothes and I would feel so bad if I didn't like them, wear them, or got rid of them in any way I felt fit.
I would hear things like, "I wanted them to go to a good home, so I knew you'd be the perfect person for them!" or "I just couldn't give them to just anybody." The pressure that those words left, felt like boulders.. Not to mention the fact that I was the youngest girl in my extended family, so I literally got all the pass downs.
As I've gotten older, I've developed my own style, and from that it's formed and morphed into different things. My style now is completely different than it was last year or even six months ago. My style is ever changing and maturing as I get older. I finally hit my breaking point; story-time!
When my husband and I moved to the western panhandle of Florida, I had so many clothes! We had a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment and more than enough clothes to fill it all up! I decided to divvy up my clothes into two piles, more like rooms but who's asking... clothes that I wear and clothes that I don't. Now I know what you've thinking.. why not just get rid of the ones you don't wear! Problem solved right? Wrong! I convinced myself that if I got rid of them I would eventually be looking for the exact item that I disposed of, and I just couldn't have that. In the guest room went my "I don't" wear clothes and in our master, went my "I do" wear clothes.
Now I'll have to get into our life in the military a little more in depth later, but for now I'll just leave you with this—when we moved from our apartment to our now house; the setup remained the same. While The Lord has been working on my heart on several different things. The way I dress is one of them (not that I dress provocatively but as a woman of God and a wife, there are things in my closet that I definitely do not need to be wearing!) I was recently reading my devotional "Jesus Calling" and the particular passage I was reading was about how our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit. Since reading that and having it really soak in, it was the straw that broke the camel's back—my back. I was finally able to go through every item of clothing I have and get rid of them.
It has been such a weight off my shoulders, and I finally feel like I am now stepping into my true style. Maybe I start blogging about that too.. Who knows, but I am going to end this story now because I meant to post this back in October and it is now January 1st! Whoops!
xoxo,
-Vi
No comments:
Post a Comment