You can’t get looking like you wrong and you certainly can’t get sounding like you wrong, unless of course, you try to be someone else.
Wow, this is something I wished I’d known when I was younger and I am so passionately banging the drum about it now because once you realise it, it’s like a massive weight has been lifted.
You are enough, just as you are…. Imagine that…. Not 20 years younger, not with a better tan, not after you have lost a stone, not just on a good hair day… RIGHT NOW. Bloody Hell…. How did we not know?
A lot of social media and press will have you think otherwise… let me tell you- that’s not real! I’ve been the stylist on those photoshoots, when you turn that model around believe me, she has the outfit bulldog clipped at the back and shoes 2 sizes too small, crushing her feet. It’s an illusion.. all to look good for the camera. And it’s there to sell, that’s it, plain and simple, not one ounce of reality.
So how can we navigate getting the feel good vibes but staying true to ourselves? Where do we start?
I know this feeling… I spent my 20s trying to be someone else… Posh Spice, any one of the Allsaints, Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding doors with THAT haircut… Rachel from friends… that one went south when my mum’s mate Carol, who cut my hair had never watched Friends and I ended up with Rachel from Tesco Checkout number 3’s wonky bob style not the luscious locks of our Jen. Bummer.
Joking aside, finding us, ourselves, that girl who lives within the shell can be tricky, and sometimes it comes with time. But I can’t think of a time when I was in my 20s and clearly struggling with crushing insecurity and disordered eating, that any older woman told me that I was enough? Is that just a world at that time thing, or were they gatekeeping the secret that we all needed so massively to know… or, in fact, did they not even realise it themselves yet?!
“Enjoy having perky tits before they drop”. Disclaimer- my tits were never perky. Is it me or aren’t women meant to pull each other up, not drag each other down? If I know something, and it’s something that might help you, then I’m gonna tell you about it. If I can make a difference then I will and if I can prevent even one girl from doubting herself throughout what could be one of the most enjoyable periods of her life, then I flippin well will, regardless of her age. So if you are 20 or if you are 80 and you still don’t fully appreciate this- know this now – YOU ARE ENOUGH- in fact, you are a bloody miracle.
This is just one of the steps included in my mindset shift- you see, there is no point on starting with the clothes, I always start with you. This is YOUR style journey, and to make it truly authentic we need to start from the inside. Fancy joining me on your voyage of style discovery? Click here to find out more.