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This episode is gonna come as a shock to many of you.
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Because many of you know me as a fashion lover.
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I talk about fashion all the time on the podcast.
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I post about fashion on Instagram all the time.
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I m known as somebody who loves fashion.
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It s one of my main hobbies, going shopping, putting together little outfits.
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I m known as a fashion lover.
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So this episode may be a shock to you,
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But don t be fooled.
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This episode is also a shock to me.
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I recently became sort of obsessed with the idea of dressing in a uniform.
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The way that I get dressed in the morning now is every day is a blank canvas.
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I am a blank canvas and I m building something brand new every day.
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Yeah, I repeat outfits for sure, but my default mode of getting dressed in the morning is putting something new on every day.
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And I ve flirted with the idea of a uniform before when I did my series on minimalism a few months back.
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I talked about the minimalist lifestyle and how being a minimalist means only owning what you need, right?
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That applies to clothes as well.
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And when I talked about minimalism a few months ago,
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I wasn t saying I wanted to be a minimalist for sure.
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Rather, I was discussing the extreme lifestyle and pulling little pieces of advice from it that were valuable.
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Does that make sense?
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I was analyzing the concept as a whole, finding the positives and negatives in it, in an attempt to apply little bits and pieces of it into my life.
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And I discussed how appealing the idea of uniform dressing
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was.
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But at the time, I didn t take it super seriously.
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Like I was aware of how beneficial it could be.
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And I discussed how beneficial it could be.
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But it was something that I didn t feel was realistic for me.
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Recently, there s been a shift in my brain and I m taking this idea much more seriously, like I m really heavily considering it.
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There s been a few events and a few epiphanies that have driven me closer to the conclusion that this might be the lifestyle for me, okay?
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Number one, I ve been so late recently to things because I ve been taking too long to get dressed.
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because I look at every outfit as a blank canvas like I start with nothing and build something completely brand new and because I ve built such a collection of clothing over the years getting dressed takes me like an hour even if I m just going to the grocery store like I take every outfit so seriously because for me
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It s like a creative outlet.
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It s like an art project.
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Every outfit is like an art project.
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So I take it very seriously.
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And I don t think that s inherently bad because again, it is a hobby for me, but I ve been late for things recently because it s taken me too long to get ready.
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Like the other day I went to go shopping and to hang out with my friends.
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literally my best friends.
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They don t give a fuck what I m wearing, even though one of my best friends is my stylist, Jared, and he has great taste, so, you know, I always want to impress him, but he doesn t give a fuck.
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He doesn t care what I m wearing.
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To his core, he doesn t care.
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When we re hanging out as friends, not as him being my stylist, he couldn t care less what I m wearing.
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There was no reason for me to spend an hour picking out my outfit.
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I was late to their house.
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because I could not figure out what to wear.
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And I was taking it seriously even though I was putting together a casual outfit.
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You know what I mean?
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On weekends when I m going out to dinner with friends, going out for drinks with friends, I m always at least
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15 minutes late because I couldn t pick out my outfit.
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Always.
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Sometimes even 30 minutes late.
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For business meetings, I m always down to the wire.
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So stressed out because I can t figure out what to wear.
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And yeah, every outfit feels like a masterpiece to me.
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I m like, yes,
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yes I ve I ve I ve done it I ve done it again I ve created yes you know like yeah I get that feeling and that s great but at what cost because I ve been so late recently and I m not somebody who feels comfortable with being late I know some people who don t mind being late
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I am not like that.
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My blood pressure raises.
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I m shaken up.
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I m freaked out.
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I don t do well when I m late.
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I feel guilty.
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Like it s all bad.
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So I m starting to build resentment for the outfit building process because
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It s been creating negative emotion for me because I ve been late a lot.
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And then on top of that, for the past year or so, I ve been traveling with only a carry-on suitcase, which means I don t get to bring a lot of clothes.
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Whether I m traveling for a week or a month, I only bring a carry-on, and I just do laundry while I m traveling, and it s fine.
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I love that.
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I ve been really enjoying that for the last year or so.
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And one of my favorite parts about that, I ve realized, is how I m forced to wear a uniform every day because I can t pack 10 outfits.
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You know, I can pack maybe three pairs of pants, four pairs of pants, a few shirts, one jacket, a few accessories.
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Like I m,
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kind of locked into a uniform and I ve grown to love that because when I m traveling I don t think about my outfit in the morning.
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I only have three options.
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I mean I have a few more than three because I can mix and match things a little bit but for the most part I m locked in and in the morning I don t think about what I m gonna wear because it s all right there in front of me.
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I m not digging through my closet trying to find
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something new.
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I m not trying to balance the colors of my outfit.
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I m not overthinking like, oh, is this the right vibe?
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Because no, I only have a few pairs of pants to choose from.
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I only have a few shirts to choose from.
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I only have one vibe to choose from.
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It s the vibe that I pack.
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That s all I have.
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And it s so nice to just get dressed in 30 seconds in the morning and then head out for the day.
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And I like the outfit because it s an outfit that I picked out.
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It s not like I don t like it.
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It s an outfit I feel good in.
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And I don t care if people see me wearing it twice because I m in a new place.
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I m traveling.
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Like, I m not going to see the same people twice, most likely, you know?
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I ve grown to love that experience.
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Those two things have made me come to the conclusion that it might be time for me to really commit to the idea of dressing in a uniform.
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Now, let me define what this lifestyle is in my eyes.
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Dressing in a uniform.
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What does that mean to me?
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Because I think that could mean something different for everyone.
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Like, Steve Jobs famously had his black turtleneck, blue jeans, and whatever the fuck shoe he was wearing, and that was his look.
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That was his uniform.
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Mark Zuckerberg famously is in like a gray t-shirt and jeans and like a sneaker to each their own.
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Like I feel like Steve Jobs owned just 50 black turtlenecks, 50 pairs of jeans, 50 loafers or whatever shoe he would wear, and then like one tuxedo for weddings, you know what I mean?
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Like I think he rarely deviated from that look.
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I could picture Mark Zuckerberg also wearing his gray t-shirt to a wedding.
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Like I don t even think he owns a tux, you know what I mean?
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That s not what I am imagining when it comes to uniform dressing for me.
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Instead of one outfit, I think of having like between three and five.
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You know, one look for going out at night, like one sleek, hot, cool, fun going out look, one running errands look, one formal look,
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for like a wedding or whatever.
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And then maybe a few versatile basics that I can interchange.
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You know, I can plug in here, plug in there.
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I also imagine myself using accessories still, you know, switching out the sunglasses.
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Maybe adding a scarf or a beanie every once in a while.
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Maybe having a few different jackets, like two.
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Maybe having a few different sweaters, like two.
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It s not gonna be so strict that I m wearing the exact same outfit every single day.
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There s still gonna be some variation, but on paper, there s like three to five outfits, and I m wearing them over and over and over and over, right?
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And then the last rule is that it can change and evolve over time.
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Every six months to a year, this can change.
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The uniform can change.
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I can donate the stuff from the prior uniform and build a new one.
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I m not stuck wearing the same thing every single day for 15 years like Steve Jobs, right?
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not going to work for me.
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I m somebody who likes fashion too much to stick with the same uniform for 10 years.
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I mean, listen, if it happens, it happens, but I m not making that a rule for myself.
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Now, you might be thinking, Emma, why do you have to make a choice?
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Why are you making this such a big deal?
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You can just wear a uniform when you feel like it for, you know, a few months and then go back to dressing creatively
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on a daily basis when you feel like it?
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Like, why are you being so rigid about it?
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Well, because
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I have this toxic trait of being all or nothing with everything in my life.
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And maybe instead of deciding whether or not I should become a uniform dresser, I should address my toxic trait of being so all or nothing with everything.
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But no, that s much less fun.
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I d rather exacerbate my toxic trait and allow myself to indulge
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in the all or nothing of the uniform dressing.
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I don t know.
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I don t know.
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I think the reason why I want to go all or nothing with this is because if I don t, then I won t get to benefit from the beauty of uniform dressing, which is removing the choice.
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Like, that s the whole beauty of it, is you don t have a choice.
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If all you have in your closet is your uniform, then that s what you re wearing.
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You see, you can t benefit from this without that mentality.
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I also just hate a gray area.
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Like with people in my life, for example, I tend to be all or nothing.
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We re either friends or we re not.
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We re either dating or we re not.
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I m either doing something 100% or I m quitting it altogether.
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Like this is just who I am.
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I don t know.
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Again, is it toxic?
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Probably.
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It sounds kind of toxic when I m saying it out loud, but this is just who I am in general.
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But specifically with this concept and lifestyle, Ooh,
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It s even more tempting to do it all or nothing.
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So let s discuss the pros and cons of dressing in a uniform.
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By the end of this, maybe you ll decide that you want to start dressing in a uniform.
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Maybe you re already dressing in a uniform and this episode just further confirms that that s the right lifestyle for you.
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Maybe you ll decide, no, it s not worth it for me.
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I don t want to dress in a uniform.
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Maybe if you re dressing in a uniform, you ll decide, I don t want to dress in a uniform anymore.
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I actually want to become the blank canvas.
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Hopefully you come to some conclusions and hopefully I come to some conclusions.
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We shall see.
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Let s start out with the pros of dressing in a uniform.
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Number one, I can spend almost an hour, I mentioned this earlier, picking out an outfit.
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Dressing in a uniform would save me so much time.
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Let s say, for the sake of math and statistics, that it takes me 45 minutes on average to pick out an outfit.
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Usually I have to pick out an outfit three times a week on the low end.
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Usually twice during the weekend I have to pick out a cute outfit, whether it s to go hang out with friends or it s to go out to dinner.
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And then during the week I often have to get dressed for a meeting at least once or maybe
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get dressed for a podcast interview where I m on camera.
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Sometimes I have to pick out an outfit seven times in a week.
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But for the sake of math, let s say on average three times a week I have to pick out an outfit.
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Having a uniform would save me two hours and 15 minutes per week on the low end.
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Nine hours a month, 108 hours per year on the low end.
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That s a lot of time.
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I mean, even 2 hours and 15 minutes a week, that s kind of a lot of time.
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You can do a lot in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
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So not having to pick out an outfit, that would save me a lot of time.
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You know what else I do a lot?
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Shopping.
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Mainly online shopping.
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But also shopping in person.
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I probably shop for two hours a week.
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That s again, on the low end.
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By quitting that, I would save eight hours per month in 96 hours per year.
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On the low end.
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That s a lot of time.
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I would also save time when packing for trips.
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I travel approximately twice a month and it usually takes me approximately eight hours to pack and I know that that sounds wild but I ll tell you why.
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It s because I only pack a carry-on and when I pack for a trip I have to figure out how to create as many
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outfits as possible with the least amount of pieces of clothing possible.
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So what I usually do is pick out four pairs of pants that all look good with the same one or two pairs of shoes, and then I pick out like four tops that look good with all of those pairs of pants and those one or two pairs of shoes.
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Does that make sense?
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It takes me so long because it s a full puzzle.
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It s such a puzzle.
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It takes me so long.
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And I m also trying to factor in what I m going to be doing on the trip.
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You know, is this trip more casual?
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I m just hanging out, not going to fancy restaurants or blah, blah, blah.
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Great.
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Then I can create casual outfits.
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Am I doing a little bit of both?
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Am I going to some events?
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Am I going to some fancy restaurants?
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Okay, well now I need to somehow balance that.
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Do you see what I m saying?
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It takes me a long time to pack.
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I travel approximately twice a month, okay?
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I travel a lot.
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Now listen, I d probably still need an hour to pack with a uniform because packing just takes a while in general, but if I had a uniform, I d save seven hours every time I pack, which would save me 14 hours a month, 168 hours per year.
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Okay, so now let s add this up.
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If I had a uniform, I would save approximately 372 hours a year.
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That s a little bit over an hour a day, which might not seem like a lot, or it might.
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It might.
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It just depends on how you look at it.
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You can do so much in 372 hours.
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Now, ideally, I would use this time wisely, right?
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I d learn a new hobby.
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I d get a little bit more work done.
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I would sleep an extra hour.
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Is that realistic?
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I don t know.
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But it cannot be overlooked that a lot of time would be saved having a uniform.
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Like, it s very safe to say that, I would say.
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Now, a promising pro is that not putting creative effort into picking out my outfits will leave more creative juice for other things.
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You only have so much creative juice in your brain.
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I don t think of creativity as a never-ending supply.
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I personally run out.
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I only have so much creative energy.
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I spend a lot of my creative energy picking out outfits.
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And don t get me wrong, I enjoy the act of picking out an outfit.
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I love it.
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It s like I m making a little masterpiece every day, even if it doesn t look like a masterpiece to other people because it s like, she looks so casual and chill.
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To me, it s a masterpiece because I balanced the colors and it has a specific vibe.
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And to me, it s a little masterpiece.
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But I will say it s not the most fulfilling creative endeavor.
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Like, I d rather take that energy and make a YouTube video, you know, like make an interesting YouTube video or learn how to use my camera better so I can take better photos or learn how to play an instrument so I can learn how to play music.
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Like, I don t know.
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I d rather
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use that creative energy to create something that s more satisfying for me.
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Putting together an outfit is fulfilling to an extent, but doing it on a weekly basis and spending a lot of my creative energy every week doing that, I just, I think it s wasting a lot of my creative juice.
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And I never thought of it like that because to think of it like that feels like overthinking it.
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But I m convinced that I m wasting creative juice on this.
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Next, my uniform can evolve over time as my personal style changes.
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I m not stuck with one look forever.
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I can still play around with fashion.
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It s just going to be on a less consistent basis.
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Instead of me
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getting creative every single time I need to get dressed.
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Now I m getting creative every six months to a year and building the perfect uniform for myself.
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On a daily basis, I can get creative with my accessories.
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I m still going to have
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various accessories that I can play with, different sunglasses, maybe a few different purses.
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You know, it s not going to be exact.
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There ll still be a little bit of choice, maybe.
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I don t know.
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I think it s a pro that there is still some room to play.
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It s just not as frequent.
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And to build off of that, I can still enjoy the art of fashion.
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just in a different way, like in between uniform switches.
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I can continue to study clothes as I always do.
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but it ll serve a different purpose.
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You know, normally I m studying clothes cause I m trying to figure out what I m gonna wear tomorrow.
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You know, I m online making mood boards, this and that, constantly trying to reinvent myself.
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But if I m uniform dressing, then I m studying fashion in between uniform switches to try to figure out what my next uniform is gonna be.
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Does that make sense?
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But I still get to enjoy studying fashion and there s still a purpose to it.
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It s just,
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not as immediate.
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And I think that s actually
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going to force me to be a better consumer of fashion because I m only going to buy things that I ve heavily thought about.
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Instead of, you know, making a mood board and getting super excited about a certain trend or idea and then immediately going out and buying it, I m going to have to marinate in the idea of a certain thing before I go out and buy it because I have to wait for my next uniform switch, you know?
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I also think that I genuinely enjoy the project that would be building my uniform, from conceiving the uniform, deciding what it is, to going and finding the perfect pieces.
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Like, let s say my uniform is white t-shirt, blue jeans, okay?
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Very obvious example.
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Going out and finding the perfect pair of blue jeans, going out and finding the perfect white t-shirt, like, that s a fun project.
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I think I would enjoy that experience.
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And also on top of that, this is maybe a more niche sort of element of all this, but when I go to fashion shows, fashion events, red carpet events, et cetera, I work with my stylist, Jared, and he goes and basically rents clothing for these events.
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That could be an opportunity for me to play around, because those clothes are ultimately given back, right?
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They re not committed to my closet.
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They re not taking up space in my closet.
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I still have room to play when I go to events.
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So that s kind of cool, too, because fashion is still involved in my life in that way.
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So I can play around then, you know?
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And that doesn t happen very often.
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I go to fashion events every few months.
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You know, I do red carpet events every few months.
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It s not like I do that very often, but when I do, I ll be able to enjoy that experience knowing that I can give everything back.
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You know, none of it s mine.
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Next, less clutter overall.
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The amount of closet space I m gonna have if I do this, wow, it makes me smile, like I m smiling thinking about it, because I am a clothing collector.
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Okay, I am a clothing collector.
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I definitely, definitely, definitely collect clothing.
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Again, it s one of my hobbies.
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I m totally making excuses for myself.
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I m just addicted.
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I think I m a little bit addicted to shopping.
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Not in a bad way.
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I know people who are way worse than me.
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Not that that s an excuse either.
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See, I m enabling myself right now.
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I have a lot of clothes, okay?
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And I m so grateful for every single piece of clothing in my closet.
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And I don t want to sound like I m not, but also I don t like clutter.
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I don t like having a lot of stuff.
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It makes me stressed out.
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It causes anxiety for me.
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This is a common feeling.
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I m almost always drowning in clothes.
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Like I have to go through and purge my closet and donate a bunch of stuff every few months or else I am just drowning in clothes.
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And it would be so nice to not have that issue anymore.
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Now, I know, it s like calling that an issue is fucking ridiculous, okay?
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But you get what I m saying.
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I m like a clothing hoarder, okay?
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Next, I rarely get to experience the satisfaction of wearing something down until it s worn out.
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because I do wear different things every day.
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I don t get to wear a pair of shoes down until there s a hole in the sole.
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Now, I know what you re thinking, Emma, this is such a ridiculous thing to say.
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I know, it is, it s ridiculous.
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It s such a privilege to want that, to want to wear something until it s done.
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I m fully aware of that and I m aware of how stupid it sounds, but I have to mention it because I do enjoy that.
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You know, when I was younger, at the beginning of the school year, I d get a new pair of shoes and then by the end of the school year, they re a fucking mess.
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And that was...
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Satisfying.
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That s a satisfying feeling.
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You feel like, wow, I really got my fucking money s worth out of this thing.
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You know, I wore it down until it was trash.
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Because I m such a clothing collector, because I have so many clothes, because I wear something new every day,
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nothing ever really gets to that point.
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And I think the reason why I crave that is because you build this very special relationship with pieces of clothing when you wear them on a daily basis.
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You watch them wither away and you form this emotional bond with those pieces of clothing and you re like,
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you were with me through thick and thin, and I know it s an inanimate object, and I m being weird right now about it, but there is something special about that bond that you build with a piece of clothing that you wore out completely.
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It s almost like you want to put them in a museum or something because you re like, I spent so much time with you, you being that piece of clothing that you wore over and over and over again for a year or two or whatever.
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And I have that with some things in my closet.
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You know, like there s a few pairs of loafers in my closet that I ve really worn out, a few pairs of sneakers.
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My slippers that I wear every day are absolutely destroyed.
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I m looking at them right now.
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They re really destroyed and I need a new pair, but they just, they don t make this pair of slippers anymore.
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And I, I like these.
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I don t want to get new ones.
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But anyway, I have that with certain pieces of clothing, but I don t know, I m craving that relationship with my clothes again.
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Like, I feel like clothes have become too interchangeable for me.
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Like, they don t mean anything to me anymore.
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I don t have relationships with my clothes as much as I used to when I was younger, and I was wearing a uniform every day.
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You know, I wore the same sweatshirt every day in second grade, and I had a relationship with that sweatshirt.
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I don t know, I m craving that.
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And I m craving the moment when it s time to retire it and I m sad, but then I m excited because I get to replace it with something else.
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Like, I miss that experience.
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And again, I know it sounds fucking ridiculous and it s such like a privileged, stupid thing to say, but I m craving that relationship with my clothes.
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I also am intrigued by the idea of having guaranteed outfit confidence.
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I m a firm believer that you are your most confident,
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outgoing, authentic self when you re wearing an outfit that you feel good in.
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And there are times when I step out in a brand new outfit that I ve never worn before and I feel confident and great and amazing and all is well, but there are a lot of times when I experiment and I put something together and I wear it out and I m like, ooh, I actually don t feel good in this.
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And if you build a uniform, there s no doubt that you re going to feel good in that uniform.
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Otherwise, that shouldn t be your uniform.
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I feel like it would allow me to be more comfortable
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out and about more often.
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And that s sort of exciting to me.
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And last but not least, I would definitely save money, okay?
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I spend a lot of my money on clothes because, again, it s a hobby.
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It s a passion of mine.
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The second that I made my own money, I started spending money on clothes.
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Like before I bought myself a car
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Or, you know, like it was like, no, I m buying clothes.
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You know, that was what I was the most excited about spending my money on.
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And so ever since I started making my own money, I was like, let s fucking hit it.
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Let s hit the shops.
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We re shopping because.
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Fashion is one of those hobbies where you have like, okay, you don t necessarily need to have a lot of money to be involved in fashion because you can go thrifting and find incredible things.
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But there is a barrier to entry.
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You do need to spend money on clothes in order to wear clothes.
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You know what I m saying?
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And you can get thrifty with it.
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And I did that for many, many, many, many, many years.
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And I still do that even to this day.
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But yeah, I mean, that s that s a big part about participating in fashion.
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You know, you have to buy clothes.
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You have to consume clothes.
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And so it was just like, I was so stoked when I made my own money because, you know, my parents were like, bitch, no, you re not like.
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Actually, my poor parents,
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they were paying for my clothes in a phase when I wanted new stuff.
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I wanted new expensive stuff to fit in with the kids at school.
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Whereas when I started making my own money, I got super into thrift shopping and everything was like, I would go buy 20 pieces of clothing for $20.
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You know what I mean?
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So they caught me in an unfortunate phase.
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But regardless,
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I will absolutely save money from not shopping.
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Okay, I think that that goes without saying.
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That s very obvious.
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But that s obviously a pro, you know, for obvious reasons.
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I don t even need to explain that.
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So, pretty promising list of pros there.
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It s going to be hard to beat that.
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But let s attempt with the list of cons of dressing in a uniform.
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To start, the satisfaction
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of stepping out in a new, fresh outfit will be lost.
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You know, the endorphins that are released when you put together a masterpiece of an outfit and you get to debut it to the world, that s lost.
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I mean, even the puzzle of picking out an outfit being solved
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in such a satisfying way, that s lost.
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There is a lot of joy in that for someone who enjoys fashion.
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Listen, if you don t like fashion, if you don t like getting dressed, that does not apply to you.
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But for me in particular, I love that process, you know?
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It s
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kind of torturous at times, but I love it.
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You know what I mean?
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I love that.
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And I won t be able to do that anymore because I ll go into my closet and I just have my uniform.
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You know, the excitement around fashion will sort of die in my day-to-day life and be reserved to when it s time to switch up my uniform.
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and for when I go to events and things of that sort where I m renting clothes to wear.
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Other than then, fashion will not be a part of my day-to-day life as much.
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I won t get that excitement and satisfaction from that.
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Now, arguably, I might get it elsewhere because I ll have so much more time to do other things.
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Maybe I ll pick up another creative endeavor or something like that, and that will replace the satisfaction that I was getting from building outfits on a daily basis.
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Maybe not.
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Maybe I just lose this excitement in my life and it isn t replaced and that s a risk.
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Another con is that the fashion muscle is not going to be flexed as often if dressing in uniform.
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I will say, I learn so much on a day-to-day basis while styling myself, casually.
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Every time I pick out an outfit, I learn something new.
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That might sound sort of dramatic, but the way that I get dressed in the morning, you know, looking at myself as a blank canvas,
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I m building something new every day and it is an educational experience, okay?
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Like, there s always a struggle because it s like putting together a puzzle.
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I m trying to make everything match.
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I m trying to make the colors balanced.
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I m trying to make the vibe consistent and somewhat vivid in my own eyes.
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Like, if the vibe of the day is, okay, I m going vampire today, then there s a puzzle to make it feel that way.
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to me.
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Or if the vibe is life on the farm, you know, I m trying to make the outfit feel like life on the farm.
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If the vibe of the day is alien, I m trying to make it feel like an alien, you know.
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And I don t know, like balancing all those things, technical elements like balancing colors and then more abstract elements like what the vibe is.
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Balancing all of that and putting something together that feels fresh and new and exciting to me is a puzzle that
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inevitably teaches me something every single time because I m having to get creative to arrive at a place where I feel satisfied.
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And I end up learning new ways to layer my clothing.
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I end up discovering a new color combo that I really enjoy.
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Oh, wow.
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you know, maroon looks really good with yellow.
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I ve never tried that before.
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And I just tried it right now.
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And wow, that looks good.
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I would have never thought of that before.
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You know what I m saying?
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Always learning something new.
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And I have to wonder if I d become less fashionable if I just wore a uniform because I wouldn t be learning as much on a day to day basis.
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I m not solving that puzzle.
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My exposure to fashion will be much less, you know, it ll just be
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more of something that I m consuming.
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Like when I am studying fashion as I always do, whether that s making mood boards on Pinterest or that s looking at Vogue Runway and seeing what s happening on the runway, that s definitely contributing to my knowledge of fashion and my understanding of what I like and don t like, etc.
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But that only teaches you so much.
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I think you learn the most about
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fashion when you get your hands dirty and you re putting together outfits yourself that are uniquely you, which inevitably they will be because unless you re copying everything you see on Pinterest or the runway, anytime you go into your own closet and you re left to use only the stuff you have to create something exciting, it will always feel uniquely you, you know, because you re not, you re not just copying something.
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You kind of always have to get creative.
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So I have to wonder if I would lose that fashion muscle a bit and end up kind of rusty when it s time to put together an outfit myself, style myself, you know?
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Like, will I lose a bit of that?
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That s a risk.
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I ll also just be losing a hobby, right?
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I spend a lot of time and energy on shopping, getting dressed every day.
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et cetera, losing a hobby is a bummer.
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I mean, obviously it ll still be a hobby for me when I get dressed for events or when I m studying clothes online for fun, but it ll become less relevant in my life.
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And ideally I d replace this hobby with another hobby.
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You know, I d have more energy to participate in a hobby that is more fulfilling for me because even though fashion is very fulfilling for me, I do enjoy it a lot.
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I am very aware that I would be more fulfilled participating in other hobbies, but would I participate in other hobbies?
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That s the question.
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With this new brain space, would I use it wisely or would I use it to watch more Instagram reels of monkeys doing funny stuff, such as eating a banana in a funny way?
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I watch a lot of monkey reels.
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SPEAKER_00
My algorithm on Instagram knows that I love monkey reels and gives me so many reels of small little monkeys doing things.
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Would I pursue other creative hobbies or would I just watch monkey reels?
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That s a huge question.
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I d also have to say goodbye to a lot of my clothes.
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I think in order to fully enjoy this lifestyle, I d have to get rid of majority of my clothes, leaving only what is a part of my uniform and pieces that are special to me, which I don t have very many of, you know?
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Like, I m thinking of like collector s items, like something that comes to mind is this
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really cool shirt that I thrifted once that it has these cool pockets in them that are shaped like a hand and they poke out the bottom of the shirt.
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The shirt s actually on my Instagram.
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It s really cool and there s nothing like it and I don t want to get rid of it because it s like a collector s item to me.
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Is it a collector s item
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to the world, probably not, but to me it s a collector s item, right?
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SPEAKER_00
I m not getting rid of that.
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Or like, I bought this vintage Jean Paul Gaultier jacket, okay?
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And it s just so gorgeous and like, I don t want to get rid of it because again, to me it s a collector s item.
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SPEAKER_00
in the grand scheme of things.
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SPEAKER_00
Is it a collector s item?
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SPEAKER_00
No, it s not like super rare.
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I m not going to go resell it for like, but to me it s a collector s item and I want to keep it because it s special to me.
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It s like having an art piece in my closet, you know, I haven t even worn it.
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SPEAKER_00
I just like owning it, which is stupid and I should wear it, but I d keep those things, you know, just because they re special to me.
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But I d be getting rid of probably 90% of my clothes if I were to participate in this lifestyle, because otherwise what s the point?
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You know,
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Number one, if I m just wearing a uniform every day, then that means 90% of my closet is not being worn.
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And I would so much rather those clothes be worn by people who would wear them.
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You know, I d rather donate those clothes than just have them collecting dust in my closet.
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So that s number one.
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Number two,
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a huge benefit of wearing a uniform is getting rid of the clutter.
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So if I m not getting rid of the clutter, then what s the point?
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You know, it makes sense to get rid of the stuff that I m not wearing, right?
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That isn t a part of my uniform and isn t one of my special collector s items in my heart.
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Let s be clear about that.
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Yeah, it d be nice to not feel cluttered, but I spent so much time building this collection of clothing that allows me to experiment in my closet whenever I get dressed.
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And it s taken me years, you know?
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Like, this journey started the second that I got my first paycheck.
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I was like, let s fucking run it and let s
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start building this collection.
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And I ve been building it ever since.
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And, you know, I ve purged it periodically throughout the years, but there s a lot of things that have lasted with me for a long time.
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And some of that is going to have to go.
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And that s sort of scary to me.
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Like, am I going to miss anything that I get rid of?
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Am I going to regret one day getting rid of this huge collection of clothing?
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You know, I don t know.
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I don t know.
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There s a lot of unknown there.
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Now, I ve yet to ever regret donating something, okay?
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I ve never once in my life regretted getting rid of something, but this is on a much larger scale, and so, you know, there are a lot of question marks there.
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And the last con that I can think of is that people might judge me for wearing the same outfit over and over.
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As much as I d like to say that I don t care, I don t care
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people think and as much as I don t care like cuz I don t I do a little bit okay I do a little bit
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And there definitely would be some people that are like, what the fuck?
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Like Emma wears the same shit every day.
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Like, this is so weird.
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Especially in LA where everybody s in entertainment and in fashion and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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There d definitely be some people who are like, ew, like Emma just wears the same thing every day.
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It s so cringe.
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Like, I don t know.
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I think in my little bubble of Los Angeles and hanging out with people in fashion and stuff and being around people in fashion,
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I could see some people judging me.
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If I lived elsewhere where fashion was not as relevant, nobody would give a fuck and it would be gorgeous.
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But because of where I live, I think people would judge me.
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Like in elementary school, high school even, people wore the same shit every day.
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Everyone had a uniform, you know, especially in elementary school.
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Although we were kids, so nobody really even cared.
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But it was not as big of a deal.
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Like you could wear the same thing every day and you weren t going to get
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Eh.
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You couldn t wear the exact same thing every day.
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But kids were re-wearing outfits all the time, you know?
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It was like normal.
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I don t know.
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I live in a really interesting bubble where the standards are different, and I think I would be judged a little bit.
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But I also don t care.
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Like, I don t care.
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Like, that s fine with me.
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I still consider it to be a con because
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being judged or whatever, it never feels good, but also I wouldn t let that stop me.
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So this is not a real con, but it s sort of a con.
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Okay, in conclusion.
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I mean, it s pretty clear to me that on paper, dressing in a uniform seems like the way to go.
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I think the only thing holding me back is the project that it would be to sort of get started, you know?
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And also the pain of getting rid of a lot of my collection.
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You know, I think that s what s holding me back.
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But I am sort of convinced that it would have a positive impact on my life as a whole.
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And for that reason, I m intrigued.
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But I also fear that this concept is appealing to me because I feel like it ll solve problems that it won t.
4
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Does that make sense?
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Like, I wish I had more energy to attempt more creative endeavors.
4
SPEAKER_00
I wish I was never late for anything, you know?
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But would those problems really be solved by me sort of stepping back with the fashion in my day-to-day life?
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I don t know.
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Because a lot of times we can become fixated on an extreme idea, like an extreme life-changing idea and be like, this will change everything.
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And it might not.
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But I don t know, because I do see this actually making a difference in my life.
4
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When I wrote it all down, I was like, this should not be ignored, actually.
4
SPEAKER_00
You know, this is,
4
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a significant piece of my life, and it would change my life genuinely to do this.
4
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So I don t know.
4
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I don t know.
4
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I ll keep you all updated on my journey, what I end up deciding.
4
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, maybe I ll end up being the test guinea pig and I can try it out and let you all know how it goes.
4
SPEAKER_00
But what s she going to do?
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SPEAKER_00
What s she going to do?
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We ll see.
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So that s it.
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That s all I have for today.
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Thank you all for listening and hanging out.
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I hope that you enjoyed this episode, and if you did, you can let me know.
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SPEAKER_00
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Easy.
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You know how ordering online works.
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I love you all and appreciate you all, and I hope that you enjoyed hanging out with me today.
4
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I really enjoyed hanging out with you, and hey, maybe I ll talk to you in a few days, and that s it.
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Okay, love you all.
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SPEAKER_00
Love you!
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Hope you re having a gorgeous day, and I ll talk to you soon.