Today’s reason is a tough one for I have recently dealt with the ugliness of this truth. I had to change places and the brands I shop for clothes because my income has drastically decreased for me to pursue my dream.  In the transition, my heart was exposed to a lie.  I believed that a brand defined my look and when I could no longer afford that brand, I felt like a fish without water.  I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I started to ask myself the question, who am I? I thought, what is wrong with me? Am I going backward? I believed if I didn’t have that brand than I wasn’t me. When I was truly honest with myself, I recognized it had all to do with how important it was to me how other people saw me and nothing to do with how I saw myself.

In my early career, I worked in an office on Michigan Ave and every day I would walk past the luxury stores and daydream about wearing these beautiful clothes. I knew one day it would be me buying those clothes.   Little did I know I was slowly buying into a lie back then,  that I wouldn’t arrive until I was wearing these designer clothes. I daydreamed so much that I found myself purchasing these designer brands on credit before I could actually afford them. I told myself as an undergrad graduation present I will buy a designer bag. Then when I went for my masters, it was like a drug,  every time I finished a semester I purchased a designer brand. I received so much respect and admiration for wearing those designer brands that it became an addiction. I convinced myself that I earned it until it all eventually collapsed on me and did major damage to my finances that I am still slowly trying to unravel.

Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with designer brands, I still to this day absolutely love them. I believe God created some amazing designers with incredible talent to create beautifully tailored outfits with gorgeous materials. I truly admire their beauty.  Designer brands are not a bad thing, they are a gift to the world. What is wrong is believing that I am not enough without a designer brand. As a fashion blogger, to this day I still daydream about wearing some beautiful designer outfits. If God chooses to bless me with an income to afford these designer brands in the future than great, but I will no longer believe that I am not successful and not enough without possessing them. Clothes do not define me, I do. I will continue to enjoy my passion for clothes in the season I am currently experiencing. I have recently discovered that I can have a beautiful and polished look at the same time of staying within my current budget.

Be confident in your look….. because you are enough!

Love in abundance,

Jamie