You Are More Than a Clothing Label

A few weekends ago, my husband and I had the privilege of volunteering at the Self Love Beauty​ Teen Conference. Our job wasn’t anything too extreme, just man the SLB vendor booth.

I’ve been trying to collect my thoughts of what I brought home. And one simple thing has consistently been at the fore front.

Clothing sizing.

We were selling shirts to teenage girls. Some of these shirts fit boxy, some fit short in the torso, some fit larger.

Throughout the day most girls would hold them up, ‘Yep, I need a Medium’ and go on about their day.

For one (and I’m sure others that didn’t verbalize it) attendee it wasn’t so simple. She picked up a shirt and her mom commented that it looks short.

So I politely said “that shirt does run a little short in the torso area, I would recommend sizing up one. I wish I had when I purchased it.”

The mom smirked and said ‘can we see a medium?’

You could see the teens heart sink.

‘No mom, I’m not wearing a medium’ she chimed.

Seeing her pain, and given the reason we were all there, I leaned over and whispered “It’s not the size on the label that matters, you are more than a clothing label.”

A simple letter/number on a clothing label does not define you. It does not make you more, it does not make you less. Your attitude, your spirit, your drive; those things make YOU.

I’m currently wearing size 10 jeans, an XL T-shirt and a size small cardigan. And you know what? My worth is the exact same as if I were wearing size 14/20/100 whatever size jeans. Because the.label.doesnt.matter. My perception of myself matters. That’s it. Not your perception, MY perception. And today, my perception is that I can rock whatever fits me for the day.