The One Where I Compare Myself to a Mini-Van
One glorious summer, I had the best, weirdest, and often grossest, temp job. I, along with Geneva (best friend), worked for an entomologist (bug scientist.) We'd get up early, pile into our trusty minivan (Sylvia), drive around to orchards, hit branches with sticks and count the bugs that fell out.
Yes, I promise you, this was a real job.
One day, in an orchard we visited rarely, Sylvia got stuck in a sizable mud puddle. Her tires span! Mud flew! At first this whole predicament was rather amusing, but as our attempts to free her turned futile, we panicked. We pushed, we attempted putting sticks in front of her tires to see if she could gain traction. Nothing worked.
Eventually (and luckily!) we were spotted by the orchardist. He drug a large metal grate over with his tractor (he was no stranger to this particular mud puddle), wedged it in front of Sylvia's tires, and just like that, she was freed! We thanked him profusely for his help, and set off, relieved and far dirtier than we were before.
Lately, I've felt a lot like Sylvia in the mud puddle: stuck, tires spinning, sending a mess in all directions. This probably comes as no surprise after my last post - an ode to my disgust with January. I am, however, pretty uninterested in being a large stuck minivan, so I've been searching for my own version of a metal grate that might propel me up and out of this hole.
Yesterday, I thought my metal grate might be a mini skirt.
Let's get to it:
THE EVENT: A full day! Work from home, errands and a voice lesson.
THE BROKEN RULE: Don't wear anything too revealing.
THE OUTFIT: I rarely don a mini skirt, and when I do it's strictly for evening. Yesterday, however, I felt like my day could benefit from a party atmosphere, so I wore the mini. (Literally, the mini. It's the only one I have.) The skirt is dalmation print (I wore it before here!), and I attempted to dress it for day. I settled on a denim button up, tights, and those Superga hi-tops that are slowly disintegrating. (I'm just not ready to let them go. I'm considering rebuying them in this blue shade, but I can't decide if I should just move on.)
THE EXPERIENCE: So, here's my beef with mini skirts: they're really hard to sit in. Yesterday, my beef was definitely a factor. I got tired of sitting in that skirt, even while working alone at home.
However, wearing a more festive outfit did help my headspace. The skirt felt fun and a bit surprising, and, while standing, it was nice to have free-feeling legs. While running errands, I stopped to get Izzy more dog food and felt pretty clever to be wearing dog print in a pet store. The woman at the counter, unfortunately, did not seem to notice.
The outfit was pretty inconsequential at my voice lesson. The skirt isn't tight enough to effect my breath support, and I'm fairly confident that my vocal coach would be supportive of whatever style I opted to wear.
THE CONCLUSION: The skirt wasn't my metal grate. Wearing a mini didn't shoot me out of this rut. But in all seriousness, it helped! I'm a believer in the power of looking the part. I could have stayed in sweats for most of my day yesterday, but I think my mood would have stayed in sweats, too. Looking enthused and purposeful helped me feel more enthused and purposeful.
Yesterday, I learned a new phrase from my voice teacher. In response to my stuck-ness he said, "The calls are coming from inside the house." Meaning, the universe didn't do this to me. Feeling in a rut is my choice. It's my responsibility to be my own metal grate and pull myself out of the mud puddle. And I will! But I may go buy another mini skirt to help me get there. :)
See you on Tuesday for January Favorites!
