Inspired by Erin’s post over on Reading My Tea Leaves from a few years back.
What I am Getting Rid of
What I am Still Pondering
When it comes to mental health, it is very important to ensure that all members of a family are well, for this it is important to help from https://fizzymag.com/articles/5-top-tips-you-can-do-to-practice-self-care-keep-the-endorphins-serotonin-dopamine-high.
What I have Added This Season
What is On My Wishlist
Let’s talk about three of my recent favorite things with more specificity than when I have previously mentioned them.
YogaQuest Teacher Training
Words cannot describe the joy that the existence of YogaQuest gives me, and I haven’t even visited the studio yet! What really strikes a chord with me is their approach to yoga that is more or less striped of the Asian spirituality of the practice, and instead sings of acceptance, and happiness. I will admit that sometimes I like learning about the historic roots of yoga, and how it uses Hindu religious texts/stories as teaching myths for describing the spirit of the pose. But, once I learned where the roots of yoga really came from, my approach to what yoga means for me and what it can mean for me as a teacher has me drawn to a bunch of different teaching styles.
Today’s yoga started in the 20’s & 30’s when T Krishnamacharya took ritualistic practices all around Asia that resembled a simplified surya namaskar (“Sun Salutation”) and worked with the King of Mysore India to create a new kind of moving meditation, and spiritual practice that combined the religious prostration sequences with the then popular british gymnastics. Magic happened and yoga was born. Don’t believe me? Check out his book Yoga Makaranda.
Why am I telling you all this? Because I think yoga can continuously evolve to resonate with new populations, just like how the King of Mysore thought T Krishnamacharya’s yoga mission would be more widely practiced if it incorporated British gymnastics. And, long story short, I would love to a similar thing when I am a yoga teacher, even in a small way. My first step of inspiration was YogaQuest’s Teacher Training description:
What sets YogaQuest apart is our philosophy. We believe that yoga is an amazing tool for social change. YogaQuest operates from the perspective that all people are deserving of self-care, regardless of size, shape, ability, race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Our goal is not to teach you to do exactly what we do, but rather, to help you figure out what it is you want to do. We believe that all people deserve yoga. We would love the opportunity to help you find your voice to share the power of yoga with your chosen population.
What speaks to me is using yoga as a way to build confidence, patience, and bravery in people. And I want to do this by being absolutely mindful of even the small things like subtle but specific language and word choices. Somewhere else that gets this idea is Curvy Yoga, which is all about creating supportive and inclusive studio environments for curvy bodies. I’d also like to sprinkle in some inspiration from Bad Yogi too, who is all about removing snobbery, pretention, and prerequisites about who”is and is not” a yogi. I feel a theme. I feel a teaching practice growing. Stay tuned.
Chelsea Wears // Shop Anomie
I have been recently spotted sitting and patiently awaiting the arrival of the 2x weekly episodes of my new favorite “reality tv show”: Chelsea Wears’ A Week in the Life vlogs on Youtube. She’s funny, she’s real, she’s relatable. Add in the bonus of the occasional Ryan (her boyfriend) and Dexter (her dog) clip, and I haven’t been happier since the day she open her Anomie shop. My favorite “segment” is when she sits and eats saltines while discussing whatever is on her mind at that moment. This is my favorite so much so that my fandom of these videos resulted in this interaction:
@GirlGotGlitter just sayin, not a bad idea lol
— Chelsea (@ChelseaWears) February 11, 2016
I am still laughing about it. And, I am still contemplating sending the whole box to her, haha! Does that make me too fanatical? If it does, I don’t want to be normal. Because the woman just gets me! Like, “she has a Clare V. fanny pack in stock” gets me.
Minimalism // Downsizing
This month I completed my first capsule wardrobe, and planned out my next capsule for spring. It has been exciting to know that I was able to stop myself from shopping for 2.5-3 months, and stick with this stream lined wardrobe. I finally sense some progress within myself about stemming my desire to shop because I have had the time to reflect on the different “why’s” of my desire to shop, and the health ways to adjust those lines of thinking. I think I may write a more detailed response to my capsuling experience once I have done a few more of them, but so far I am loving it and will stick with it for at least another 3 months.
In a related way, I have been overall into minimalism and downsizing my possessions in general. While this is something I was interested in before capsule wardrobes, I have been much more conscious of how my everyday decisions can change when I think of my downsizing goals first. Questions like: “Do I need to buy this extra snack when I have one with me at work already?” and “Do I need this fun mug when I already have 4 or 5?” can stop me from adding to what I already own, or help me make a conscious decision about how adding a new item to my life can have an impact on my living space, long term plans for moving to a new state, and my financial goals. Debt getting crushed, and dreams of lots of travel in 2016, you shall both be achieved by the end of 2016 if me and my minimalism have anything to say about it.
So, you may remember from a few of my past posts that I mentioned that I wanted to try capsule wardrobes this year; notably this one where I consider it, and this one where I said I committed to it. Well, I am here today with an update about my choices, and my reflections on wearing my first capsule for the past month! Short version: so far I am loving it!
Long version: Because I gave myself permission to have a 33 item capsule for my casual wardrobe, and a separate 33 item capsule for my work wardrobe I haven’t had any moments where I felt like an item was missing from my capsule. I should say that my work one still a work in progress and only has about 28 items so far, so I am not posting the items in it yet. I imagine it will be become more of a 6 month capsule and not 3 months like my casual one though, but stay tuned for that one.
Option fatigue was something that I was really struggling with in 2015 until I found a way to address it by trying this capsule wardrobe method. Once I had the right tools to myself permission to put more value to my time spent not shopping or deciding what to wear than all the time I spent on those pursuits in 2015, I felt very freed. Something about having this new personal “tool” of giving myself permission for certain things has been one of best discoveries of 2015 in general actually, and I have applied to a few other things that I won’t go into today but may discuss in more detail in a future post.
I also think that in the long-term this will help me be more mindful about who and what I spend my wardrobe money on, which is something that I have made a priority recently. But, we shall see about that one. 2014, and 2015 were both years where I somehow managed to spend way too much on my wardrobe, like many thousands of dollars too much. However, it never put me into debt until about September/October of 2015 because before this shopping lifestyle that was actually attainable in my budget because I lived at home where I paid a limited rent to my parents. But was no longer the case when I decided to permanently move out in March of 2015. Due to not adjusting my shopping lifestyle to fit my new condensed budget that included an expensive apartment that I love and find great personal value in, and a priority for travel, I managed to build up a decent credit card balance because I tried to have these two new values without removing that previously held high spending shopping habit. This was a struggle for me for many months because when I realised what I had done it felt so unreal. For some reason up until then, running up a credit card bill was an issue that felt like something that only happened to “other people” and would never happen to me. I’m sure there are plenty of psychological/upbringing reasons that could be presented to say why I felt this way, but even with an explanation behind it, it was still a glass shattering moment for me, and the struggle of it shouldn’t be dismissed.
Anyway, this is my long way of saying that despite those struggles I am finding a lot of positivity with the capsule wardrobe system. I have managed to not buy anything new since mid december. That’s 7 whole weeks people! Which is a big achievement for me as a recovering $250+ per month wardrobe shopper! And that last shopping trip were all items that are now in the below list and I have worn them all a ton, so I don’t have any guilt about it. This “no shopping guilt” thing is also kind of a notable thing for me because I spent much of 2015 with various degrees of guilt and shame that was strongly tied to money and spending. It is this relief of guilt that makes me think that this experiment could have a lasting effect on my future wardrobe construction and shopping choices.
But, I know, Sparkle… you want to know what 33 items made the cut for what I am wearing until March 31st! Due to time value priorities I am not photographing every piece in my capsule, but I may do that with future capsules if I am able to. So, instead I am providing my items as a list with links were possible because I think it can still offer much value.
Have you ever done a capsule wardrobe? What are your 5 favorite items in your wardrobe that would always make the cut if you did ever curate a capsule wardrobe for yourself?