No. 26: When Absolutely Nothing Fits
and the February Favorites
Oliver Sutton.
In O’s family, instead of saying “all of the sudden,” they say “Oliver Sutton.” Oliver for short. We’re running out the door after a marathon of goodbyes and one of the kids suddenly has to go to the bathroom? Oliver. We ask a cousin to see a photo of a girlfriend and magically they can’t remember her Instagram handle? Oliver.
A few weeks ago, I rotated through three pairs of pants I know good and well I wore until 30+ weeks pregnant last time around and could hardly shimmy them past mid-thigh.
Oliver.
In the past years since struggling with the realities of auto-immune disease, I’ve been no stranger to this moment. I spent a few months last year in a state of hyperthyroidism. Heart palpitations and bulging dry eyes were the tip off long before every single pair of pants I owned was suddenly too big despite not a single change to my workout routine or diet. I adjusted my medication, dug in deep to heal the mold poisoning and quickly slipped into hypothyroidism. The otherworldly exhaustion and depression were the tip-off this time, followed quickly by my weight creeping up by the day.
I talk more in depth about my relationship to weight and weight gain in particular in this week’s podcast episode, but today I want to give a few tips for anyone who finds themselves in a season where suddenly, nothing fits.
It can be deeply frustrating at best to be stuck in this position. I’ve spent years trying to get rid of the clothing I accumulated in the days of shopping for the short term. Gone are the days of running to Forever 21 for a top to wear out that night and digging through racks at Nordstrom to bulk up my suitcase for a week long trip. My wardrobe is curated and crafted and not having access to it feels a bit tricky in seasons like this.
We can do one of two things. We can wear the single pair of sweats that stretches across our waistline or has a tie we can scrunch up to stay on our newly smaller frame. Repeat every day. Do lots of laundry. OR. We can make the pieces that do fit in our wardrobe work a bit harder and invest in a few staples that fit the body we find ourselves in right now. I’m here to make that process a bit easier today. Ready?
1. Does your current season require something new from your wardrobe?
Often, we can get by with a square peg in a round hole but at some point, when a transition turns into a season, we need to adjust our wardrobe to fit what our life is requiring of us. Did you leave an office job to work from home or take some time off work altogether? If your wardrobe hasn’t transitioned along with your daily responsibilities, you might find yourself frustrated. Consider keeping only the essentials from your workwear and getting rid of the rest by selling on places like Poshmark or ThreadUp and donating the rest. Ask yourself how you want to feel when you’re at home and carefully, slowly add those pieces to your wardrobe.
2. Ask yourself how temporary this new body is.
If you’re pregnant, you might want to put all your teeny tiny pants into storage for a bit until you’re ready to give them a go again. If you find that your body isn’t ever in a place to put those teeny tiny pants on, donate those bad boys and move along with joy. If you’re not pregnant and you find that you’ve been in a prolonged season where all your favorite clothes are too big or too small, consider that this may be your new normal. It’s uncomfortable and unflattering to continue wearing clothes that don’t fit and everything feels better in the right size.
3. Go slowly, but swiftly.
Once you’ve established whether your season is short term or long term, be quick about getting rid of the things that no longer work but slow about adding new pieces back in. Consider tailoring if things just need to be taken in or let out a little bit and for the rest, keep only the things you find irreplaceable.
You’ll start off a brand new season—Spring—accepting the season your body is in and Oliver Sutton, you’ll dread getting dressed less. It’s the little things.
*the belly photo above was taken many months ago…things have escalated quiiite quickly.
Last week was the Spring Break guide for your littles, today is all about you. I spent the past week pulling together three Spring capsules to accompany the Spring Momiform (!!) and I’m proud to say there’s something for everyone here:
mint cover up. black tunic dress. white canvas sneakers. mint bikini top. bikini bottom. crinkle striped shirt. white trousers. black raffia hat. knotted cream slides. black shoulder-tie one piece.
yellow short-sleeve cardigan. cream cotton blouse. matching cream cotton shorts. tan leather slides. white denim. yellow tank. liberty print pajamas. raffia and leather tote. white sneakers. floral dress.
linen dress. amazon sunglasses. denim jacket. black toe sandals. white knit dress. cream tote. striped button-down. matching striped shorts. tan knotted slides. raffia hat. tortoise clip. white button down.
That’s gonna do it for today, y’all. For those of you who are only here for the first email of the month—hi! I hope you had a beautiful February! If you want to make a change in March, you can catch up on podcast episodes talking about Conception, a TMI talk on Weight Gain and Body Image and more along with emails talking about what I’ve learned in 13 months off Instagram, and the tool our marriage counselors gave us that changed the game. There’s a whoooole lot of reading and listening to partake in here on the gold standard and I’m so glad you’re here.
Have a beautiful weekend, friends.