I got caught in a TEDX loop the other day.
You click on one talk, Youtube helpfully suggests a handful of other talks you may be interested in, you click on one or more of those, they each come with their own suggestions, and all of a sudden it's hours later, you have dozens of tabs open, and you're all full of enthusiasm and possibly some contradictory ideas.
The talk that tripped me up this time was The Ten-Item Wardrobe by Jennifer L Scott.
The reason it threw me out so much is that it restarted an argument my brain likes to have every now and then which boils down to:
'Having nice new things is lovely but this thing isn't broken yet and throwing it out would be wasteful.'
The start of the talk sort of lulled me into that 'holy shit, I'm going to change some habits' enthusiasm when she spoke about making sure that clothes fit you, are age appropriate, are in good nick, and suit your style.
I'm sure there are plenty of things in my wardrobe and drawers that could get donated or tossed because I don't wear them any more (or shouldn't wear them any more) and I have been slowly getting around to that in stages.
The bit that derailed the full steam ahead enthusiasm train was when she spoke about getting rid of her baggy sweatpants and t-shirt sleepwear combo and buying some nice pyjamas instead.
Because I am totally on board with the idea that the clothes you wear outside should be done away with when they get holes you can't mend or have become noticeably shabby, but when I'm sleeping... who cares?
The singlets or trackies that aren't nice enough to wear outside any more but are still doing OK make fine being unconscious accoutrement.
Having a nice pair of jim jams to wear when you go away on holidays or are staying at someone else's place isn't a bad idea, I have some floating around the place myself, but getting rid of stuff that could conceivably be serviceable for this purpose for years...
Jennifer said it was to do with treating yourself and feeling well put together at all times, even in private or when sleeping but... eh.
I think I'm going to end up with a compromise where I buy good quality stuff that'll last a decent while, get rid of stuff that doesn't cut it any more, and continue to enjoy my daggy at-home-wear because ditching it for nicer new threads won't make me feel elegant and confident, it'll make me feel wasteful.
Now I'm going to wander off and watch some more videos about minimalism, something that appeals to me intellectually and emotionally but which I will never be able to pursue because I like my stuff too much...
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