Sure, I’ll dress my best, if only I could figure out what that is.

I didn’t expect that participating in academichic’s Dress Your Best challenge would prove to be so, well, challenging to me.  But in the spirit of always seeing the glass half-full, I learned a lot about myself.

Part of the challenge was to first list the 5 things you loved best about yourself.  Sure, no problem!   I love dressing myself, so I must love myself, I can easily come up with a list.

All of a sudden, I could only think of the negatives.  Flat feet. Non-existent eyelashes.  Pale eyebrows. Shoulders too broad.  Thighs too flabby.  Upper arms too flabby.  Bulgy tummy.  Left calf significantly larger than right calf.  Skin plagued by eczema.  Scars on my feet as a result of eczema.  Scars on other parts of my body because of eczema.  Short stumpy legs.  Hammer toe.  About 15 lbs off my “ideal” weight, which makes me fat, as my mother never fails to point out.

Then I went into a state of shock.  If I don’t actually like anything about myself, am I just shopping to cover up everything and to ignore all my insecurities?  If that’s the case, it’s not really working because it hasn’t made me love my body any more.  If that’s the case, then it’s another reason to stop and think about my shopping habits even more, because clearly happiness and self-acceptance can’t be bought.

After all that, I forced myself to come up with the 5 things I love best about myself:

1. my hair (long, straight, healthy, and free of grey)
2. my boobs
3. my curves (I have these hips, I’m going to embrace them!)
4. my skinny ankles
5. my muscular calves (one might be bigger than the other, but they’re the only part of me that has any kind of muscle definition from lots of walking and genetics—thanks Dad!)

So here’s an outfit that shows off some of my best (taken last week when it was warm in Toronto):

 

• Bailey 44 dress from anthropologie
• anthropologie necklace
• Jenna’s cardigan from J. Crew
• Tory Burch flats

Boobs! Calves! Ankles! Hair! Curves!