You are the main character of your life. Read it again. You are the main character of your life.
I know you know this, yet when we’re struggling (and who isn’t struggling right now?), we often feel like someone else is in more control of our future than we are. But I want to take a moment to remind you of how powerful you are, even when it feels like your livelihood and dreams depend partly on someone else. You’re you, and that makes you powerful and worth acknowledging.
One way to acknowledge yourself – to help yourself feel seen or to see yourself in a new light – is through whimsy. Especially the whimsy we’ve been taught, as adults, to “grow up” from. Do you remember who you wanted to be when you grew up? Do you remember which characters you dressed up for as Halloween or had on your bedsheets as a kid?
Last Halloween, I dressed up as a sun goddess; even though I wore a medical boot and had been in one for a month or more at the time. I almost didn’t do anything for Halloween. I was too upset over my foot injury and the time it was taking to heal. But when I don’t feel like doing something is when I most need to do it. Are you the same?
After some encouragement from friends and knowing I’d regret it if I didn’t do it, I started by looking for goddess costumes online. While I saw some gorgeous ones, I could almost feel their cheap plastic material through the screen, and based on their prices, it didn’t feel good to potentially spend nearly 50 dollars for something I’d wear once.
What did feel good, however, was ordering an orange pair of fairy wings. And thrifting on a whim one day after work. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, but I figured I’d know it once I found it.
I ended up with a few pieces: a floral gold maxi dress, a long cardigan with a celestial design in autumnal colors and a golden gemstone crown clearly made for Halloween but only a dollar. I completed the outfit with my wings and a brown boot I already owned.
On Halloween, I wore the dress to work. I almost didn’t wear the dress because it’d show my medical boot, which felt like an eyesore. But the boot? The boot added backstory. Maybe my character had been in battle and won, with only a foot injury to prove it.
My outfit was mine. It wasn’t a mass produced one-size-fits-all costume but something that really fit, something that made me feel powerful, beautiful, magical. I loved it! Plus, it was practical, featuring items I’d wear again for less than the price of a premade costume.
I recently saw a quote on Instagram by @lilly_prinz that said, “Decisions are portals.” This quote resonates with me so much because it’s true. Portals, being the whimsical things they are, often lead to other worlds. And decisions are how we get there – how we find portals, how we make portals, even to something as simple as having a better day.
It can be hard to remember that we’re the main character of our lives, but whimsy helps. And we don’t have to wait for Halloween.
Want to be a mermaid? A barbie? A goddess? A spy? A witch? A butterfly? An assassin? A superhero? Another character who beats all odds and looks glorious doing it? The outfit you wear doesn’t have to be obvious to anyone but you; it can be inspired by a character’s energy. Or the outfit can be obvious, an invitation for others to have fun and play in their empowerment, as well.
Either way, you’ve got this and I believe in you.
