Back in the early 1970’s, (yes, I am dating myself), us kids needed to find an easy way to match clothes so that outfits went together and we could dress ourselves.  I think it was a way for us to be proud of picking out the “tiger” shirt that went with the “tiger” shorts.  For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, every piece of Garanimal clothing had an animal on the tag so we could easily match up which outfit would look best together.  Boy, have we come a long way!

Now the trend is more in the complete opposite direction — where mismatched socks is totally acceptable (although the mismatched shoes has not been so accepted) and outfits that clearly have no similar colors are acceptable too.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a good thing.  Sometimes, I feel like I still need to see which pants goes with the “elephant” tag.  When I see a picture of a blue and white polka-dotted dress, I do not think to put accessorize with an orange purse, necklace, and sandals.  I just don’t get it.  This is why I write and talk and run in the opposite direction when it comes to fashion and stuff related to it.    I just don’t know how.  And that’s ok, too.

What is my point?  My point is that not everything fits perfectly together like animals on clothing tags.  Not everything will match.  Not everything will be so simple. Life certainly doesn’t work that way.  Our lives have to be left to make up on the fly, if need be.  In a perfect world, we should be able to make everything fit in its place.  But the truth is that it doesn’t work that way.  We all have had co-workers, teachers, family members, that don’t do things we think they should do them.  We create an image where the only mold that is acceptable is the one we create in our minds. But shouldn’t individuality be accepted too?  Shouldn’t we all have the privilege of being exactly who we are instead of being told how to dress or what to say?  Shouldn’t my free will count for something?  If we all wanted things to be the same, then we might as well be robots.  Where we are created to do the same, day after day.  How boring and mundane is that kind of life.  That is not the life for me, that’s for sure.

So, what kind of life are you living?  Are you living the life of the Garanimals — where everything is pre-set for you, so you don’t have to decide anything?  Are you going through the motions because it is all you have done for too many years?  I am hear to tell you that you CHOOSE to be the giraffe on the tag.  No one put it there on you.  And if someone did, you can rip it off anytime you want.  Look around and you will see different everywhere.  I don’t have to be like you and you don’t have to be like me.  Because we were not made to be the same…we were made to be different….to be ourselves.

We spend too much time thinking and caring what other people think and the truth is that people really do not spend that much time thinking about us.  We all have better things to do with our time.  I have to be me.  I just might still need some help putting together an outfit together time and again, but no clothing tag will tell me who I am…no matter what it says.

“Being rare and unique is more valuable than being common and ordinary.”

Michelle A. Homme 2014 ©