Yesterday, on our family day, we explored the island of Lanzarote and ended up having lunch in Puerto del Carmen.
It’s a super touristy town with a big and crowded sand beach and a street with millions of restaurants, one right next to the other…
Since we are staying in this cute little village with just about 3 restaurants and one grocery store, we were a bit overwhelmed by the masses of tourists there.
But now the interesting part, you could tell exactly where everybody was from, without even hearing them speak a word.
I say that’s funny, but in truth, I think it’s kind of sad. How is it that people from the same country all dress the same?
I don’t want to name all the stereotypes, but sadly enough, they are true.
I mean, I get it, you might say, that’s just the clothes you can buy, but even then, can’t people make up their own style? Wear things a little different than they are supposed to be worn? Do people just not care? Do people want to fit it in and look the same as everybody else?
I’ve thought about this before, since living in different cultures. I’ve lived in the US for the past 10 years, but I grew up in Germany and travel there once a year.
In the US I feel as if I dress way more European than others and when I am in Germany people tell me that I look very American. That’s pretty confusing!
For a while that gave me the feeling of not belonging anywhere. But did I need this to belong?
For some time now, I feel like I am really embracing to not fit in. I feel like I am making up my own style and I really only care about how I feel. It’s important to feel comfortable in what I wear.
And if I don’t, I won’t wear it!
I didn’t use to care about my clothes too much.
A couple of years ago, I totally changed my wardrobe. Instead of wearing pants/jeans, I changed to wearing skirts with tights. At first I wore the craziest colour combinations, just because I felt like rebelling a bit. I felt like I wanted to be seen. I wanted to experience the feeling of feeling different. I also wanted to feel more feminine and for me, who never liked to wear skirts or dresses, skirts were my feminine statement.
Then after starting my Beach Body Workout journey and feeling more confident in my own body, I started to wear tighter clothing, which was very different to the more loose and sporty style I had worn before.
I can see now how this conscious change started. Now I pay attention to how I feel wearing my clothes and how I want to be perceived. I embrace this change that naturally occurred. For example there were two hoodies I absolutely loved wearing in the beginning of 2018. By the end of the year, I had not worn them for many months…
I don’t own any clothing piece, that I don’t like to wear. Traveling now, I do miss some of my clothes that did not fit into my backpack, but I am also happy with what I have and with the decluttering process that I went through before we left.
I am happy to feel like I don’t really fit in anywhere, instead always feeling comfortable with what I wear. Maybe now it’s the other way around? I do fit in everywhere I want!
I am enjoying the process of figuring out, how I can express myself through my clothes. And when I feel well and like myself, I feel like people connect to me and see me for who I am. Me, my body, my mind and my clothes are all one now 🙂
I love these real and honest connections. It feels like life flows and that feels great.
How do you pick your clothes when you get dressed in the morning? Do you wear clothes that fit your mood? Do you wear whatever is clean and pressed? What other people want you to wear? What are your desires?
I’d love to connect with you and have a real conversation about what feels great to you!
Please get in touch or book a connecting session following this link:
https://calendly.com/annikahaymancoaching
With much love and gratitude,
aNNika <3