When you're a senior in high school preparing for college, you turn to your elders for all of the advice they have to offer. These new college freshmen produce a few nuggets of wisdom: "don't talk in the library," and "make it to Catfish Friday in the Rebel Market," and "don't sign up for 8 a.m.s." After they lay this knowledge on you, if they are female, they laugh and add this: "and give up your dresses. You'll be in Nikes every day by the second week." What a gosh darn stereotype.

I like to dress up. I wear dresses. I wear crop tops. In the winter, I wear both of these items with flannels. (There is no shame in my flannel game.) I was like this in high school, too. Minus the crop tops. Those aren't in dress code. I have always been one to dress up. I wear dresses when I nap. I wear crop tops when I spend the day binge-watching Netflix. It's just me. So, with this in mind, of course I was given the talk by many of my older peers: "Meg, I hope you bring shorts and t-shirts with you. There is no way you're keeping up that look in college. You'll just look out of place. No one tries that hard there." I was always dumbfounded by this statement. What do you mean I'm trying hard? It takes me less time to put on a dress than to put on both a shirt and pants. I don't even have to button up my flannel if I wear it over a dress. It just makes sense.

Getting to college, and being here for a semester and some odd weeks, I realize what they were saying. There is such a stereotype for how I am supposed to feel about going to class and how I am supposed to look for going to the said 8 a.m.s I was warned about (I ignored that advice as well. Don't be like me). I should begrudgingly go to class. I should grumble about being awake so early, coffee in hand. I shouldn't care what I look like. I shouldn't dress for others.

I am not dressing for others when I put on my favorite dress from Forever 21. I am not dressing for boys when I show a little bit of my torso. (I am also not trying to distract them with my shoulders). I am doing the same thing that these girls do, the ones who wear the t-shirts and leggings and running shoes: I am dressing for comfort. These girls wear t-shirts because they're comfy and cute and easy to wear. They look great in them, honestly. I wish I looked so great in a t-shirt. But I don't feel like I do. So I wear dresses because they're comfy and cute and easy to wear. On a daily basis I choose what I wear based on how I want to feel that day. I always choose to dress in something that I feel good in. If I don't feel good with what I am wearing, the whole day is shot for me. I won't feel good about anything else without this first step. I feel frumpy in t-shirts most of the time; Nikes don't give me confidence. If you feel good in t-shirts and leggings, I am so for that. Go you. Rock that sweatshirt. Believe me, you look good in it.

Just please don't be mad at me when I dress for myself. Don't scoff at my dresses and crop tops. I don't care that you're wearing a t-shirt, wear whatever the heck you want. It's your prerogative. In return, don't care about my dresses. Let me dress for myself without feeling bad for doing so.