I am a student studying at University. I wanted to work a couple of hours a week and since this week have been actually working within the University itself.
Before I started working, I noticed some interesting things about how I thought I should look and dress for that particular job and I wanted to share this.
The first thing that came to my thoughts when I heard I got the job was – well, what should I wear?, knowing that my job is to welcome people, making sure they sign in for the class and set out the sandwiches and drinks in the break and cleaning up afterwards.
I realised that I had a whole picture of what I should ‘look like’ when doing those things – an elegant woman with tidy clothes and shoes that shone, looking and being very feminine and definitely very chic!
On the other hand, I had a very strong feeling of what I felt to wear to the job; picturing myself in a smart beautiful blue loose knitted vest over a crisp shirt, with my (at the moment!) favourite pair of dark blue jeans and my new white, very comfortable sneakers! I even knew how my hair should go and which earrings I wanted to wear. But, as you may have noticed in my ‘picture’ of a hostess there are no WHITE sneakers and also my jeans were too tough-looking! And so I started to check if I had other shoes in my closet that fitted my ‘picture’. I had some shoes which would be alright, but then I would have to change my whole outfit as they absolutely did not go with the jeans. On top of that, they were not as comfy as the sneakers would be!
I faced a dilemma:
Staying with what I felt to wear or changing it into wearing something that would fit more with my picture of a hostess?
I could feel that before this day I had often chosen to dress in a way I thought I should dress for a particular occasion.
By seeing and realising this, I chose to stay with what clothes I felt to wear this time.
And by doing this I could feel that I allowed myself to be me – to wear what I felt I wanted to wear for my new job felt very supporting of myself. The result – my outfit turned out to be perfect for the occasion and I had a very good time with myself and the people I worked with!
This whole experience confirmed for me once again that trusting and honouring what feels right for me, is very important. And that it is also important for everyone to claim this for themselves.
By L.C.