I have a confession to make. I've kind of lost my style mojo this past year.

It's not that I'm not interested anymore. Actually, I'm fully engaged in trends and even make trips to the actual mall, like a crazy person, in real life, to do my job well. 😂 Every month, I play virtual dress-up when I create the Outfit Formulas monthly outfit plan inside the app. I picture myself wearing every outfit as I put it together because it MUST pass the Alison test. 

Turns out sometimes that's exactly enough to scratch my itch. Occasionally I'll even buy a thing or two from the shopping list, but I also have such a great base of Closet Staples that I don’t shop for much anymore.

I work from home so I use the excuse of well, I'm not going anywhere, so why should I care about dressing nice? and then default to some version of a tank top or tee and shorts or jeans. Not to mention Texas has been approximately 1,000 degrees for the past three months, which does NOT bode well for looking stylish!

But being in the Netherlands changed something in me.

I don't know if it was a rising-tide-raises-all-ships kind of thing, but I noticed the women there. They weren't necessarily dressed up, but they looked really put together. Mostly casual, very current, and like they'd actually thought about what they put on that morning.

And it made me want to get dressed again too.

It didn't hurt that the weather was already feeling fall-like…or that our hotel was directly across the street from the mall. 😂

I started out telling myself I just needed a few more layers for the trip, so I bought a new cardigan and some base-layer t-shirts in a few colors. Then I decided I could use some updated jeans and added two pairs of those. After that, I bought a lightweight jacket in a style I saw on women everywhere there.

And I was having FUN!

I was taking my time in stores, looking at things instead of just ordering whatever could show up on my doorstep tomorrow. I was feeling all of the fabrics, trying things on and asking whether I could actually see myself wearing something and whether it felt like me.

And then something funny started happening.

I wore my new outfits and for three days in a row, Craig came home from work, looked at me and said some version of, “Wow, you look so stylish! I LOVE what you're wearing.”

Not gonna lie, that was nice to hear too. 😂 But more than anything, I felt good.

I felt more confident. I enjoyed putting the outfits together. I couldn’t stop looking in the mirror and being proud of myself because I'd made an effort.

After about the third day, Craig asked me, completely curiously, not judgmentally, “If you’re enjoying this, why don't you dress like this at home?”

And I gave him my standard answer, because I don't go anywhere.

He looked at me and basically said, But if it makes you feel good, why does that matter? You should do it anyway. 

Well. Fair point, Craig. 😂 On occasion, he’s totally right. 

Because here's the thing: I see me.

It doesn't actually matter whether anyone else sees the outfit. I feel how my clothes make me feel. And if you’re been around here awhile, you know I used to talk about this ALL THE TIME.

Getting dressed was never about dressing for other people or looking perfect. I’ve always believed that making the effort to get dressed in a way that felt like you could change how you carried yourself through the day, even if no one else ever saw you. It’s the whole reason why I started my blog Get Your Pretty On, to get out of the rut I was in, to dress for me again.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped doing that for myself.

And I don't think this is really about shopping or needing more clothes. I have plenty of clothes.

I think it's about realizing that style is one of the ways I express myself, and it's a part of me I haven't been making much room for lately. I’ve shared before that this year has challenged me in ways I never expected. I honestly think losing my style was just another byproduct of going through hard things. 

That's probably why it felt so good to find it again in such an ordinary way - no big revelation or reinvention or much effort at all. 

Just putting on an outfit and thinking, Oh, there I am!

So that's my goal now that I'm home. Not to get dressed up every day or turn this into another project or thing I have to be good at. I just want to make a little more effort because it makes me feel good when I do.

I came home with a few new things I'm really excited to wear, even if a couple of them might hang in my closet for another few weeks (months?) while Texas decides whether fall is actually going to happen. 😂

I also posted most of the outfits I wore on our trip over on Instagram if you want to see them.

SEE MY NETHERLANDS OUTFITS

And because I don’t gatekeep, I've linked what I can from the outfits here too:

SHOP MY OUTFITS

Sneaking some style back into Rediscovering Me feels pretty appropriate, actually. The cool thing is that rediscovering ourselves isn't always about figuring out who we're becoming, but remembering something that already makes us feel like us.

This Week's Breadcrumb 🌱

So rather than asking you specifically how you're feeling about style, I want to make this one a little bigger.

What's something that makes you feel like you that you haven't been making much room for lately?

Maybe it IS getting dressed, or doing your makeup, or wearing perfume even when you're not going anywhere.

But maybe it's reading, gardening, cooking, music, painting, going to concerts. Having friends over, taking yourself somewhere alone, making things with your hands, dancing in your kitchen.

Nothing you need to monetize, optimize, turn into a goal or use to become a better version of yourself. Just something that, when you do it, makes you think:

Oh. There I am.

That's mine this week. Getting dressed again reminded me that style isn't just something I do for work. It's part of me too, and apparently I've missed her. ❤️

Come tell us yours in Community. I have a feeling reading each other's answers might remind some of us of things we've forgotten about ourselves too.

SHARE YOUR BREADCRUMB IN COMMUNITY 🌱

And thank you to everyone who shared last week's Tolerations with me, both inside Community and in your responses on social media. I've loved reading them.

One woman is unsubscribing from mailing lists. Another turned off the phone and watch notifications that were constantly interrupting her. And I especially loved the tip from the woman who keeps a running list of Tolerations right on her refrigerator and knocks out a few every week.

I think we may need to keep that one going inside Community. Maybe a weekly Tolerations check-in where we can post what we're knocking out and hold each other accountable. Nothing like a little positive peer pressure to finally replace the light bulb you've been staring at for six months. 😂

COME JOIN US IN COMMUNITY ❤️

xo

Alison