Just yesterday, I was wearing a dress with heels for Chinese New Year visitation. After long hours of being in heels, I took them off and wore slippers instead. Feeling as comfortable as ever, I threw my hair into a messy bun. Thinking that I looked cute and confident at the same time, I entered the mall to find for a dinner place.
After dinner, my sister and I roamed around to shop for a little while by ourselves. While she was picking out clothes in the store, I stood by her side to watch her.
Then a girl came in. She was in a crop top with high waisted shorts, wearing a pair of boots to match her outfit. She looked 16. She glanced at me and gave me a look.
My confidence level dropped immediately like a person jumping off from the base of a bungee jump.
“Look at her, she’s all dressed up nicely while I’m here in a dress with slippers. I bet she’s thinking to herself ‘Wow, her fashion sense is so bad,’ ” I told my sister.
My sister looked at me and sighed, “Why are you always so conscious of what people think of you? Why do you even care about what they think of you? Can’t you have a little confidence in yourself?”
Those words hit me like fists.
You see, it’s so often that we’re confident at one second and we’re not in the next second. Why?
Why do we even care in the first place?
For all we know, she might be thinking about how I could pull off looking all cute in that dress paired with slippers. She might have thought, “Oh, how I wish I could wear a dress with slippers and rock that style with a messy bun.” OR “How I wish I could look that confident in wearing an outfit that doesn’t match at all.”
It is so important for us to remember that we might be the ones they are looking up to. It is so important for us to remember that we do not always have to look stylish or ‘in trend’.
Fashion is just a style. They are still clothes for us to wear. It doesn’t matter if you went out to the movies in your pajamas. It doesn’t matter if people stare. It doesn’t matter what other people think of you.
What matters is what you think about yourself.
Boost yourself with a dose of confidence every day. Do not let what you think others might think of you, let your confidence level down.
Be proud of your body, be proud of what you’re wearing, and be proud of who you are.
