Day 5. Wardrobe Anxiety Syndrome

What’s a ‘normal’ amount of anxiety, self-loathing and despair when getting dressed in the morning? How stressful should dressing be? If you're suffering from WAS, then you'll know what I'm talking about! I have a bad case of WAS - Wardrobe Anxiety Syndrome. I WAS able to wear all these lovely clothes, I WAS of a size and shape that looked good in them. I WAS even of a mind, and a way of thinking that wanted to look like that.. That WAS me. But no longer.

I’ve always loved a tutu and I refuse to be too too to tutu!!

This morning, I was getting dressed for a client meeting. This was a friendly client - I was not meeting the head of a world bank or anything like that, and yet it meant that this morning needed some serious preparation: I would need 30-45 mins just for dressing, an air-conditioned room, no interruptions, and some calm self-talk.

It was not fun.

Eventually I settled on the blouse I wanted to wear and pale pink jeans (not ideal in the 35 degrees of a Hong Kong Summer) but I was out of time so a compromise had to be made.

Apparently at a ‘certain age’ we women (and probably men too) change shape involuntarily so suddenly my wardrobe appears to belong to someone else. I either have tops that fit, but without appropriate bottoms, or vice versa.

Blame COVID!

I live in leggings and yoga tops. I’m happy in leggings and yoga tops. As regular wear this was fine during and even post COVID for a while, there was no need for much else. I was either working from home as a Marketing Creative Director, or running Tension and Stress Release workshops where yoga wear is my legitimate work outfit.  

For 3 years I didn’t shop for anything other than yoga outfits. In Hong Kong the COVID restrictions and mindset lasted from Jan 2020 to end of 2022. (We were only legally not required to wear masks in public on March 1^st 2023.) So, my business wardrobe was neglected, and now I am a woman of a certain age with an outdated wardrobe to boot!

Who am I now?

This situation needs some serious consideration. It’s not just a question of buying bigger clothes, it’s a question of what kind of a woman and what size of a woman do I want to be in my Season 2? What is my style now? What do I want to look like ?

No longer a girl, nor an in-betweener (as per my previous post), so what kind of a woman am I going to choose to be? I don't want to ever be too too... too big... too serious... too old... too mature... to tutu, so that's a start.

This must be part of my Happy Weight Loss Experiment.