There is a reason why I ended up with a career requiring a uniform.

I missed the class on style when I was growing up. While other girls were developing their sense of fashion, practicing applying make-up and learning the skill of walking in heels, I was in my room, head down in a book or practicing the violin. I tried to fit in and to ride the wave of the current trend, but always seemed to miss it…by about a decade or so. My prom dress when I was a Junior spoke volumes. My friends all had adorable strapless gowns, purchased from the land of prom dresses that no one ever told me about. I got my dress from Talbots.

Yes. I was 16, and not knowing where to shop, I went to Talbots.

Suffice it to say that my dress looked like one of my grandmother’s old lace tablecloths. I was a walking doily.

Things only slightly improved from there. Friends in college tried to help me as did friends later in life, but nothing could shake my core belief that I was still that shy nerd who never felt comfortable in my own skin.

Unlike some people who love shopping for clothes, I avoid it. I drift through stores and try to imagine the person who would look good wearing the clothing filling the racks and shelves. I procrastinate buying outfits for all of my big life events. From my wedding to Eddie, where my friend Amy literally dragged me into Boston to buy ‘something…anything‘, to each of my children’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah, I will do anything to avoid having to try on clothes. I put off buying a dress for my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah for so long, I think my friend Beth from B. Styled was about to have a heart attack. The only reason why I had something to wear was because she ordered the dress, and the shoes, and the necklace, and everything arrived two days before the event.

So yes, for some of us, the struggle to get dressed is real. And deep. And painful. Every time I have to find something to wear outside of what I wear to work, I struggle. I struggle, and I judge, and I critique, doubt, put on, pull off, put back on again, and do the dance with clothing that is the only dance I know.

But before this continues down a deep dark hole, I have good news for you. I am not done trying to learn a new dance. When Beth told me about her B.Styled Five Day Mini Closet Challenge, I knew I had to do it. It’s the perfect way to become friends again with myself and with the items in my closet. I am tired of feeling lost when it comes to putting together an outfit and look forward to opening my closet doors and feeling joy. The process begins with sifting through what I’ve collected over the years, keeping the things I love, that fit, and that make me happy, and donating the rest.

Who’s with me?

Day One is today, and there is no better time than the present to dive in and get started.

Let’s do this!

xo