Remember my word of the year? It’s CELEBRATE! Well, I have to remind myself about that often when I start feeling stressed and anxious about really good things that are going on. When I was getting ready to go to New York to film the Nate Show, I was almost physically ill fretting over what I was going to wear. As I was getting ready for the Lucketts Fair, all of my insecurities were popping up and I was certain everything I made wasn’t good enough and I would be a disappointment. You know what that stuff…that junk…that total crap we do to ourselves is? Robbery! It’s taking something that’s awesome, that should be celebrated, and morphing it into something you should be afraid of.
I found myself getting all worked up over it when I saw girls fretting about what to wear to Haven. I’m not sitting in judgement, because I was fretting over the same thing as I was cleaning out my closet, trying on clothes and feeling like I wasn’t good enough. Why in the world do we do this to ourselves? Why do we allow an outfit or how we feel about our bodies or our skin or our hair to rob us of joy we should be experiencing? We’re going to a retreat to hang out with other awesome girls, who also mostly care more about decorating than fashion. We’re getting to spend time with friends, some who we’ve never met, who have encouraged us, inspired us, challenged us and showed us what’s possible. It’s going to be awesome. Let’s not allow that to be taken from us. Stolen from us willingly as we point out all of the flaws in ourselves and our wardrobe.
Well, Shaunna and I are going to make what to wear to one event easy. The two of us will be wearing our paint clothes (and they aren’t pretty) while teaching the Advanced Painting Workshop and we invite you, encourage you, to do the same. In fact, we’ll be giving out a prize to the best/worst painting outfit – a set of Annie Sloan brushes, which are very cool (and expensive) brushes. So, while you might be stressing about your cuteness level during other hours of the conference, you can fight against it for this event!
When I’m not wearing my paint clothes, I’m just going to wear what I’m comfortable in. That probably means I’ll be hot, because I hate shorts and sleeveless shirts and I almost always wear black and gray! Oh well. I’m going to fight against the urge to pick myself apart and put a damper on the celebration. I am determined that I will not be robbed. How about you?
