Dressing Room Anxiety

5/20/16

Yes, my pants are falling off.  :)  Pants that were once too tight to tie my shoes in are now falling off... well they have been for a few months.  Last month I had to buy all new pants.  Shopping is an emotional experience.  On one hand, if feels amazing to be buying new clothes, on the other hand, it sucks that I don't know what size I am..... and every brand seems to be so different.  It's strange and I find myself headed toward the plus size section of the store even though I can fit in the ladies clothing (larger sizes of course).  I just feel comfortable in the plus size section of the store.  I know (or used to know) that I'm a size 2x or 3x in shirts and 22 or 24 in pants.  It's easy for me to shop there and I usually don't have to try anything on because I already know my size.

First Pair of Jeans 5/20/16

Now, I don't know my size and I'm forced to enter the dressing room and try on new things.  Sometimes they fit, most of the time they don't.  It's tricky and dressing rooms have never been a very fun place for me.  Still, my first experience shopping for jeans wasn't too bad.  I tried on about 12 pairs (I don't know, but it felt like 12) and only 2 fit, but it was a start.  I left the store with a pair of 18's and a pair of 16's....WHAT?!  16's?  I don't even
remember ever wearing that size.  To be fair, I only really remember being a size 8/9, then a size 18, and finally a size 22/24.  I don't know what happened between 8/9 and size 18.  I must have lived in sweats???  Not sure.


More recently, my shopping experience was a little more positive and I was able to fit almost all of the clothes I tried on.  That doesn't mean I liked all of them, but it was nice to have an idea of what size I was.... I stuck to size 18 as I think those size 16's were a fluke, but who knows.

I'm not scared to try things on now.  I still don't like the dressing room, but I'm okay with trying things on just to see if they fit.  A couple weeks ago we walked through Cabela's and I picked up a size Large coat and tried it on.  I've been able to wear Large T-shirts since March (they're stretchy), but I was extremely surprised and overwhelmed with joy when I tried on the size Large coat and it actually fit. I didn't cry, but the smile on my face must have been priceless.  I also don't remember a time when I wore size large.  To be fair, I don't remember my shirt size really.  I've been an XL for a long time until about Sept. of 2014 when I started to buy size XXL.  So, size large seems so tiny to me.

"Normal" Boots 7/1/16

BOOTS!  Oh, boots!  Well, since this whole thing started with boots, it shouldn't be any surprise that I've been waiting to see if I could buy normal sized boots off the shelf.  Last week my son and I went to Goodwill and I bought 3 pairs of normal sized boots because they all fit my calves.  I also bought three pairs of jeans (not from the plus section).  It's nice to have a wider variety of clothing options.  Excited to go down a couple more sizes so that the selection options improve even more!

Trying on Clothes 6/20/16

Why is shopping so hard for me?  Is it like this for everyone?  I get very anxious as I'm holding clothes and attempting to enter the dressing room.  I'd much rather buy them and take them home to see if they fit or not.  Sometimes it takes me awhile to get into the dressing room with the clothes while other times, I don't even go in.  I usually tell my husband that I'm not ready for this.  Shouldn't buying smaller clothes be fun and exciting?  For now, I'll keep pushing myself to go to the store and try on things (good or bad).