After watching the Olympics these past 2 weeks, I felt wowed by the athletes’ accomplishments and truly energized. And after watching our USA women’s gymnastics team (who completely rocked it out, especially Simone Biles!) and the rhythmic gymnastics all-around, I have also been feeling the urge to get some kind of clothing with glitter all over it. Seriously.
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Sequins, perhaps? Definitely something sparkly. I felt pretty happy about the prospect of it, too. An initial reactive thought tried to shut down that giddiness, though: “Wait a minute…I’m already creeping so slowly down the street…do I really want to draw even more attention by being covered in sequins?” Here’s the thing: I’m almost 6’ tall and I walk slowly with a cane—I will be drawing attention even if I’m wearing a burlap sack, so why not enjoy what I’ve got on?
Besides, I live in New York City, where I’ve seen everything walking down the street ranging from a dancing naked person to a dude in a leather jacket strolling along wearing Victoria’s Secret-type angel wings smoking a cigarette. There’s definitely no need to feel self-conscious here.
I suspect that many of us living with MS have become quite self-conscious about the way our bodies now look or function due to disability. We may be painfully aware of standing out. Perhaps we’re slower, unable to move the way others do, or have obvious physical symptoms or mobility devices. That’s okay. There’s no reason to try to hide ourselves and give up on expressing our personalities.
What’s your style like? What kinds of outfits and accessories make you happy? Perhaps you’re not inclined to wear sparkly stuff or anything too “out there” (I personally love a great rockstar coat and am still in search of the biggest Mongolian lamb wool hat that I can find, but that’s me), but I’m sure that there’s a style that you enjoy. Have you given up on that because of the MS?
For a while, I had given up on my personal style because of my MS, thinking “What’s the use?” Not anymore. Sure, maybe difficulty walking has necessitated a change in footwear, but I’ve gotten good at working around that. It might be only a cheetah- or zebra-print cane cover on a given day, but I’ll be rocking something that suits my style. That gives me a boost, regardless of how I’m walking that day.
I loved one woman’s take on my walk at a business conference the other year. I was feeling a little self-conscious about how slowly I had to walk to our table and made a bit of an apologetic comment about it. She replied with the warmest smile: “I thought that was your runway walk.”
Fabulous. I’ve claimed the term “runway walk” to describe my walk ever since.
A walk like that deserves something sparkly.
You deserve to shine, too. What have you been doing that downplays your looks or hides your sense of style because of the MS? What can you do to start changing that? Get some ideas in the post Rock Your Style And Boost Your Confidence.
