Our society, for a long time, has had an issue with our bodies and what the ideal body is. I think recently though as we have come into the third wave of feminism, we have been able to get better about how we love the spectrum of body shapes and sizes.
Plus, with biology we know that getting a perfect hourglass shape is not going to come with a diet and exercise. Our genes have something to say about how our bodies are going to look and genes are hard to mess with. So, we might as well really love our bodies wholeheartedly if there is only so much we can do to change our figures.
One thing that I have struggled with in my body is sizes. When I was young and still a bit today, I got caught up in the thought that wearing a size extra-small, small, 2, 4, 26 all meant that you were skinny and “the right size.” As my chest grew in I started slipping into the mediums and I was pretty okay with that.
But never did I want to have to wear a large, or an extra-large. When my mom and I would go shopping and be trying things on, I would always cringe a little bit when I would need to try something on that was one size bigger, thinking it said something about the size of my body.
Recently though I had a moment of clarity. The size of the clothes I am wearing says nothing about the size, shape, and health of my body. The size of the clothes I am wearing says something about the clothes I am buying and how they are made.
In my closet, right now I have a skirt that I love that is an extra-large, and a blouse that I feel confident in that is an extra-small. Some clothes are going to be shorter on you, so you need to size up, others will hang off you like a wet rag and you need to size down.
What matters most is that you are wearing an outfit that makes you feel like you are ready to take on the world. You shouldn’t feel like you must squeeze into clothing that is not your size all for the sake of a tiny label that has an “S”, “M”, “L”, “XL”, etc. on it that literally no one else is going to see. Even you are going to forget what the size of your favorite dress is.
Our bodies are truly amazing for the things that they do for us. Somehow, we have just gotten into the habit of covering up our bodies, and then judging them off how much fat we have, how many ribs you can see, or the definition of our abs.
So, we should dress for the size of our smile, not the size of our hips. What outfit are you going to pull on today that gives you the biggest smile and bounce in your step? For me, it would be a white shirt, a fun striped skirt with a little twirl to it, and a pair of nude wedges. Really, it’s the wedges that make me feel like I can tackle anything.