Clothing Labels Do Not Define You

I work for a large corporation where we are requested to wear shirts that show the company logo, with this comes a large clothing order every year. Like years past, most of the ladies gather around and share what they are getting. I had just come off of a 90 lb weight loss, feeling pretty darn good about my order – I was FINALLY able to order size medium for shirts. After showing off my selections a co-worker looked at me and said ‘how are you going to fit in a Medium?!’

Now, I’m sure she meant well (or at least I hope!), but hearing those words put me into shock. You might as well just put the pounds lost back on me, because the loss meant nothing now. So, her peer pressure got to me. I changed my order to up my size to large and even extra large. The order came in, and by golly gee, my shirts looked like junk on me!

Here I am, a professional accountant drowning in my cardigans and blouses because someone decided to bully me. As soon as I realized this, I decided to make a pack with myself. I was no longer going to let the size on the clothing label define me. I started to wear clothes based on how they fit, and more importantly how I felt while I was wearing them. The label now meant nothing.

I was able to use this experience while volunteering at the Self Love Beauty Teen Conference in January of 2019. I worked the clothing booth where the attendees could purchase shirts from The Beautiful Me collection.

One teen walked up with her mom, they held a shirt up and I said ‘it does run a tad small, I would recommend sizing up one’ The mom replied with ‘Yes, I think you will need a medium’ – you could see the teens confidence melt away. The thought of wearing a medium was heart breaking to her. I saw the defeat on her face, leaned over the table and said ‘The size of the shirt means nothing. Not. A. Single. Thing.’

“You bring value, no matter your size.”

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