25 Ways to Practice Self Love & Reduce Anxiety

Today I’m talking about something that we haven’t covered yet- anxiety. This is something that’s been on my heart a lot lately, as I’ve been extra anxious the last few weeks (cue the holidays), and have been dealing with anxiety for many years as a not-so-fun side effect of PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome- see my post about this here). Whenever…

5 Things You Can Do To Start Feeling More Confident

Hello again! I recently visited the new LikeToKnow.It mural in Venice, and had a blast shooting this look in front of it! The mural, located at 228 Main Street in Venice, CA 90291, is beautiful, and the colors are so fun. If you’re in the LA area, I recommend going there to snap a pic while you can. Moving on,…

Size Doesn’t Matter: Let’s Stop Defining Ourselves By A Number On A Tag

If your closet is anything like mine, you have clothes of all different sizes. I've got smalls, mediums, larges, extra larges, etc. And although my sizing exists on a spectrum, I am almost always a 12 or 14.

The funny thing is, if I fit into a piece of clothing or need to size down to a size below these numbers, I instantly feel happy and proud of myself. If I have to size up, I feel less than, and often times ashamed. For the longest time I would refuse to size up out of pride. Even if the smaller size didn't fit well, I'd convince myself that I was going to "loose the weight" to fit into said item (this is the WORST). And if I did muster up the courage to buy the larger size, I'd cut the tags off, and feel disgusted with myself every time I wore the piece (I even did this when my size range was between size 7-9 back in college).

About 6 months ago I purchased a size 14 top, and it was too small. When I realized it didn't fit, I nearly broke down into tears. I felt so humiliated.  I knew that if I wanted the shirt to fit I would need to order a size 16, and I refused to do that because that would be "accepting" that I was a size 16 (this is what I call size-up scaries).

The opposite happened when I tried on this blue gingham dress. I ordered a size 12 Tall, and it was HUGE. I found myself getting really happy and excited that I needed to exchange the dress for 1 or 2 sizes down....but why? I hadn't lost any weight (I've actually gained a few lbs lately due to non-stop vacations and treat-yoself days, whatever). I hadn't accomplished some big feat or changed the world...I just happened to need a smaller dress size.

So it got me thinking, why do we let something as small as a number on a tag effect us so much?

Dramatic Bell Sleeves and Boyfriend Jeans

I like my sleeves like my TV shows...dramatic! Speaking of dramatic TV shows, I just watched the season 7 premiere of Game of Thrones and OMG. My life is pretty drama free, so I get my fix in the form of TV and movies. My current favorite shows are: Game of Thrones, Wentworth, Jane the Virgin, Orange is the New Black, Power (haven't started season 4 yet!), Law & Order SVU, any of the Real Housewives franchises, Insecure and Younger.

Anyways, back to this top.

How To Be Confidently Colorful At Any Size

I've always loved bright colors, but until recently, I didn't feel fully comfortable wearing them. Growing up, I always thought that I should wear darker colors because they were "slimming" and would help hide my curves.

There was a time when almost everything in my closet looked like 50 shades of black. I unintentionally wore so many dark colors because I was insecure and wanted to hide my body. If you've ever had body image issues, you know that when you're unhappy with your body, wearing bright colors is the last thing you want to do.

But is it possible to be confident in colors at any size? Yes!