When I started using my good stuff I started with a category that felt both manageable and held a lot of special items: my jewelry. Instead of trying to wear all the good stuff, I decided to only focus on prioritizing and actually wearing all of my jewelry. I would love to tell you that all you have to do is decide to use your stuff and tomorrow you can throw open your closet and wear it all. What I have found is that it takes intentional, small steps, to learn how to use your stuff. This brings me to Show Pony Summer Series Method # 10 Start Small.
One day I realized I had lots of show ponies hiding in my jewelry box. I looked at my bursting jewelry box and decided I would start wearing it. When I went to get dressed, I didn’t know where to begin. Earrings? Necklace? Bracelets? It was overwhelming! Then I remembered, start small.
I decided I would start with just earrings and I made the commitment to wear earrings every day. So, the next day I put on my smallest pair of stud earrings. Sure, I still wasn’t wearing ALL of my jewelry, but the journey had begun. I got comfortable wearing my stud earrings and got in the habit of feeling like an outfit wasn’t complete until I was wearing earrings. After that habit was cemented I started to experiment with my dangly earrings, and after practicing with them I became more confident to wear my bold earrings.
Once I had my earrings on lock I started the process over with my necklaces. I wore my simplest, most dainty necklaces, the ones I was confident how to pair. Once those became second nature, I moved on to the bolder ones, the ones I usually only pulled out for special occasions or to wear with dresses. Finally, I started wearing statement necklaces, playing around with necklines and really enjoying myself.
After doing the same with earrings and necklaces, incorporating bracelets felt easy. Immediately I could play around with multiple colours, wearing multiple at once, and being more daring. By starting small I had given myself time to get used to being someone who wears jewelry, the time to mix, match, and play. If I had started off day one wearing earrings, a necklace and bracelets and choosing my boldest ones I would have felt uncomfortable and not continued. Starting small allowed me to slowly get used to:
- Being someone who wears jewelry
- Pairing jewelry with my outfit
- Having the confidence to wear the bold, statement pieces
- To break ‘the rules’ by mixing and matching metals.
You may be thinking ‘come on Gill, you’re making this seem like such a big process, I’m just going to throw on a necklace and wear it out of the house.’
If that works for you, go for it! What we don’t realize is that by choosing to use and wear our stuff we are fighting some long-held beliefs. Beliefs that ‘later is better,’ that we aren’t allowed to wear our good stuff, fears that we will wreck it, or thoughts of ‘what will people think?’
When those doubts rise up, whisper to yourself ‘start small.’ It’s still a rebellion if you wear just 1 thing you don’t normally wear.
How can you start small tomorrow?