Do you ever walk into your closet and walk away, only to walk back in, then out, then in and then out again. And again. And again. And Again. Choices: not enough and too many all at the same time. It is dizzying. You tell yourself, “maybe I need to go shopping,” and then in the next moment you say while annoyed, “maybe I need to weed items out.” A trip to one’s own closet can be the epitome of indecisiveness. And in that moment of indecisiveness, you reach for the same few items, again and again and again…
And then you find yourself in “decision fatigue”. You know what I am talking about, only you may have not known what to actually call that exhausted feeling by the time you get out the door. And when I say door, I do not mean the front door. I mean the closet door. Instead of thinking about really important decisions in the day ahead of you, thoughts like, “I hate my clothes,” swirl around in your head. Hopefully, you have eaten breakfast by this point. Otherwise, you may not be done with early morning decision making: do I eat fruit, low- fat, high-fat, carbs, protein or buttered coffee for breakfast?
I remember the ease of getting dressed when I was pregnant and working in the corporate world. I literally owned five outfits during the last couple months of my pregnancy. But what I really remember was how quickly I got out the door each morning: no decisions about what to wear. If only I held onto that wardrobe practice: minimalism. While my wardrobe selection these days is not as up-to-date as most and empty hangers still exist in my closet, I really haven’t done myself any favors. All those “other” clothes simply get in the way of my go-to, easy-to-wear staples. I should just get rid of any color and only wear black and white. But I continue to subject myself to decision fatigue while standing in my closet.
Some notable names have chosen to eliminate fashionable decision making from their lives. Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Simon Cowell to name a few. Zuckerberg was quoted saying,”I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community,” after clarifying that he had “multiple same shirts.” He said even small decisions like choosing what to wear could be tiring and consume energy, and he didn’t want to waste any time on that.
So where the females in that list? Well, I can tell you where my daughter is each morning. Since she began attending the Charlotte LAB School this year, uniforms have been implemented into our daily lives. I say “our lives” because I no longer have to be part of the morning clothing drama. She has five combinations to select from and pretty much handles it all by herself. Getting dressed takes no more than two minutes, from selection to changing. It is beautiful. And I envy the ease of her mornings.
Have you ever heard that women dress for one another, not for men and not as much for themselves? I certainly believe there is a component of truth to that. At my daughter’s former school, she wanted all the brands the other girls were wearing. For those of you who workout in studios, how many times have you seen rows of Hunter boots and Uggs? We want to fit in by conforming to a degree of sameness. But at the same time, we wince over having just spent $200 on a pair of boots to wear to a workout studio.
Even as I write this, I go back and forth regarding my thoughts on this subject. While I love expression through fashion at times, I ultimately find myself weary from it. I would love to be able to eliminate more than half of my closet and simplify by finding my version of a daily “uniform”. I should start by cancelling the online order I made today. Why did I have to have that dress for an upcoming vacation? The timing of my own article was too late to save me. At least for today. Tomorrow is a new day, where there is hope and a chance for change. And by change, I do not mean changing clothing over and over and over. My bank account will thank me as well.
Perhaps Matilda Kuhl can be my new inspiration in 2016. Check out her easy way of style at Business Insider. Just don’t go on Pinterest and lookup fashion afterwards.
Decision fatigued,
Mai-Lis
