Change.

I tend to do a lot of reflecting at the cottage.  It is my happy place.  A place where I can sit and let my thoughts wander free.

While I was there over the holiday I spent a while staring into the fire, reflecting on times past.  I reflected on 2009, and all the change last year brought to my life.  Change is a funny thing, it is both exhilarating and devastating, exciting and exhausting.  Change is all around us - sometimes chosen, sometimes not.  Often we fight against change, other times we thoroughly embrace it.  Either way, it is a constant life theme.  

As our life changes, our style does too.  What once felt functional and amazing, no longer works for us or makes us feel confident.  I am reminded of the days in university when wearing sweat gear with McMASTER scrolled across it made me feel like I belonged.  Or the days in high school when wearing a shirt that revealed my belly button felt sexy and cool.  Today, neither of these looks would work for me - they would make me feel like hiding -  so thankfully I have adapted my style to something that makes me feel confident today!  

It is amazing to see how much style really is connected to our lives and to the changes that comes.  I love thinking of style as a visual narrative of our lives.  We all have a story to tell, and our style tells that story not only to us, but to the outside world. I immediately picture a woman walking to the subway every morning in a full corporate suit who I now see walking in the middle of the day in Lulus with a stroller - a major life change told through her clothing.

Sometimes life changes happen so quickly that our style just can't keep up.  I admire my clients for having the courage to ask for help when they realize their life has changed more quickly they have.  For me, 2009 was one of the quick changing years, and I can feel my style evolving because of it.

I am excited for 2010!  It will be another year filled with change, another chapter in each of our lives, and our personal style will need to evolve with it.  Take some time to reflect on your style, and ask yourself if you're telling the story you want to tell.

"Life is your story. Change a constant theme. Style your visual narrative." ~ Wendy Woods