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I recently kicked off a clothing closet cleanse project to
“celebrate” the Sun joining Saturn in my first house. As any astrology buff out there might know – your first house is all about your identity – and with
both Saturn and the Sun’s energies flowing strongly therein – I can’t help but
feel inspired and motivated to transform and/or make changes to my image and
identity. All to better align with the
woman I am today, and the woman I am becoming. Because we are ever evolving and growing
beings, right?
FIRST HOUSE IDENTITY SHIFT
There are so many ways one can work on one’s identity - it’s not
just about clothing. It can be your
hair, your habits and beliefs, your thoughts and values, your approach to life,
….I think you get the picture. While I have a bigger multiple year “identity”
transformation project in the works thanks to Saturn’s 2.5 year sojourn through
my first house – I decided to cleanse my
clothing closet this month when the Sun joined in the fun because fashion has never
been my “strong suit” (ha ha!). In
fact, I often joke I was born without the fashion gene. However lately – perhaps fueled by Saturn and
the Sun’s energies – I am feeling a strong desire to make fundamental changes
in this area. A desire to consciously
and more mindfully express my true authentic self and essences through my
wardrobe – through what I wear, how I accessorize. And what better way to kick that process of
than by clearing out the old closet?
Easy, right? Not so much apparently when you are me. (I have
a sneaky suspicion I might not be alone!)
As I embarked on the project – I was reminded once again of how
psychological a process even something as simple as cleaning out your closet
can be.
Because as many of you already know – it’s often true that the
choices you make in life – clothing choices included - are a reflection of where you are on your soul's evolutionary growth process. While I thought I’d done a bang up job up until now of letting go of old values, beliefs, habits, behavior
patterns, AND clothing that no longer served, aligned with and supported me –
what I found hanging in my closet begged to differ. Though this isn’t my first
closet cleanse – I realized as I got into the project – that 50% of what I
thought was a clothing closet was in fact a graveyard for old outfits and
clothing representing parts of me I thought I’d outgrown, transformed and/or
shed.
Yikes! What a surprise to
see all that old energy still hanging around in the form of: little black dresses I'd worn in my twenties; cool
suits, outfits and dresses bought over twenty plus years ago while traveling to
places like Paris and Sydney – but rarely worn once home; black silk evening
wear my mother wore and passed on to me; and suits for corporate work 10
plus years old. While the clothes are
all still in good shape and fit me physically – I haven’t worn some of these items for
years, and none – If I pause to tune in and listen to my inner wisdom – fit energetically
the woman I am today or the woman I am becoming. What these clothes represent
instead are:
- Old beliefs (lack of abundance - hold on to it because it might come back into fashion and then you won’t have to spend money again to buy it)
- Over-honoring of inherited values (thriftiness, frugality, conservatism– familial core values that while not necessarily "bad" - aren’t a reflection of my core values)
- A bit of youth nostalgia and sadness around letting go of my youth/my past
- Little to no ROI on some investments made, a condition that was never corrected
- Perhaps a little fear vs. faith in what the future will bring
Yuck! None of this represents who I am or how I feel today, yet by holding on to these items, their energies linger on
and every time I see them hanging there in my closet – they chip away at my self identity - affirming who I was in the past, not who I am today.
AURGH!! How - despite all
the self-development work I’ve done to transform hindering beliefs and shed
values not my own have these items managed to remain in my closet all these years? How did I miss their energy draining impact? And what emotional pull must these items still
have on me for me to hesitate - even now - from letting them go?
CLOSET CLEANSING TIPS
Luckily – before setting out on this project - I picked up a few
“closet cleansing” tips from my soul sister Anne as she - like me, and maybe
you too – is in the process of transforming herself – her business AND her
closet simultaneously. Tips such as:
- Create an interim “boxing” step for items like those above that may need a two step versus one step process to leave your home – with the first step being to remove the item from your immediate visual / emotional energy field – before moving on to step two of sending it to the thrift store, recyclers, ebay, or to the dump.
- When trying something on – ask yourself, “Does this fit who I am today? Does this fit where I am headed? Does this fit my future self? Would my moderate rebel (a core essence of mine) wear this? Who of my four core essences does wear this?"
- And should all of the above fail, sending a quick text to said friend to get her support along the way.
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A CLEANSED CLOSET
Armed with these tips, my friend’s support, a firm desire to
grow and evolve, and a heavy dose of self-love and compassion – I managed to
clear my closet of all of those items listed above. Some ended up in bags that went to the
thrift store. Some in boxes destined
for the garage where they will hang out for no more than a year before going on
to step 2. Some like the boots pictured
at the top – boots I literally loved and wore to pieces while traipsing around the
City in my twenties – were memorialized and released energetically in order to
flow on to their next life.
You’ve all heard the old adage that we only wear 20% of our
wardrobe actively? Well – for the first
time ever – I have a section of my closet now containing clothing I wear
actively 100% of the time. That’s pretty exciting for this fashion neophyte.
I saved the best of the story for last though. It’s the most exciting outcome of this closet
cleanse and one I’m dumfounded I didn’t realize sooner. It’s a realization that will help me tremendously
moving forward as I bridge my way from where I am today – to the dream wardrobe
of my future.
FINANCIAL PLANNING = FASHION PLANNING: THE SAME PRINCIPLES APPLY
My realization was this: Had I applied the same principles to
creating a wardrobe as I have to creating a retirement portfolio - I’d have a
wonderful “me fitting” wardrobe right now.
DUH! Why I didn’t see this sooner
I’ll never know. (Maybe it’s something
to do with that fashion gene deficiency – or those
latent non-serving old values and beliefs still cluttering up my psyche closet!) This realization came to me as I was
struggling over what to do with the beautiful green wool Daniel Hechter suit
I’d bought in Paris 20 zillion years ago but had infrequently worn once
home. If that suit had been a stock or
mutual fund – it would have been a no brainer decision. In fact – I would have dumped it (or thrift
stored it) long ago for not providing a solid steady return on my investment! Duh. Duh. Duh!
Creating a wardrobe now seems so easy when I consider
transfering financial principles, skills and steps to developing a wardrobe and
my fashion acumen. Accordingly – here are some tactics (translated from
finances to fashion) I’m going to “play” with and apply moving forward as I
work on creating a wardrobe that oozes my current and future self's essences:
- Identify what kind of “investor” you are – translated – identify your fashion archetype/s
- Identify your asset classes – translated – identify your fashion asset classes and asset class categories including but not limited to: exercise, home casual, work, evening etc. Whatever works for your lifestyle
- Study and research funds and stocks– translated – study up on fashion, for example – what outfits does your archetype wear when working? Out for the evening? Within an asset class - say nice casual - how does she wear boots with dresses, boots with pants?
- Identify your asset allocation – translated - identify what percentage of your entire wardrobe portfolio you want to allocate to what asset class, for example, 5% evening wear, 20% exercise, 50% nice casual (or whatever it’s called), etc.
- Within those asset classes – identify what kinds of funds you want to put in them – translated – figure out what clothing items you want in each fashion asset class. For example, I'd like the the asset class of nice casual / work wear to consist of: 2 dresses (describe in greater detail when you know what you want), 4 pants: jeans (blue, black, boot cut ...whatever you want here), boots (describe what you want here)
- Plan an annual clothing strategy and budget - and stick to your plan.
- Buy investment vehicles based on your strategy - translated - Using your plan, buy clothing items to fill gaps you've identified between the state of your wardrobe today, and where you wish it to be.
- Track performance and asset allocation throughout the year – translated – keep a pulse on the return of your clothing investments. What are you wearing? How often? How much enjoyment and pleasure are you getting from wearing it?
- And perhaps most important of all, re-strategize, rebalance and plan you "wardrobe" portfolio and budget every year!
NEW WARDROBE HERE I COME!
The idea of approaching the task of creating a wardrobe strategically from a
financial perspective gets me all happy and excited! Who knew? (Well - I know some of you already knew!) It also gives me permission to give myself adequate time to bridge from
where I am now to where I wish to be wardrobe wise - as I did not create my
financial portfolio overnight. So when
my inner speed demon mean girl raises her ugly head and demands to know why I
don’t have it all in place yet – I can remind myself (and her) that good things
take time: It takes time to research and
amass learning, to develop fashion acumen, to create strategies, to shop for clothing, to make
mistakes and learn from them, to manage emotional impulses and stick to your
plan instead. It takes time to build and
grow, but grow and build I will!
I realize that not all the tools and tricks from my financial
world will apply to my fashion world – that I’ll develop new tools and tricks
along the way as needed. But at least I have a roadmap and an idea of how to manifest a wardrobe that fits me to a T. A strategy that lets me be me and go about doing things
“my way” to create the fitting wardrobe of my dreams – and in the process –
allows me to express myself authentically.
New wardrobe here I come!