Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.” – Epictetus.
To cheer myself up, I try to remember the difference between short-term and long-term success. Living a good life and making a real mark on society is a marathon, not a sprint.
This explosion of athletic wear and rompers is very ironic when you think about how much more sedentary we’ve become. As we’ve become less active and higher-tech, we’re wearing more and more workout clothes.
Perhaps you like to torture yourself by trying on some jeans from a few years ago to see if you can button them. Clothes do not exist to humiliate their owners. Please do not force garments into performing psychological tasks for which they were not designed.
This is one of the pitfalls of being nice: You end up overexerting yourself. That’s why one of the most important things to learn after you master good behavior is how to say no gracefully. It’s ultimately better for everyone, because you don’t burn out and wind up in a mental institution, making you no good to anyone at all.
One of the hardest things for a teacher is to know when to keep quiet and when to let go. It is a terrible thing to hold someone back from success, or to insist on sharing credit, or to tie someone to your apron strings. We need to have faith that we have done all we can, and then we need to kick our birds out of the nest.
In 1916, Infants’ and Children’s Wear Review insisted upon pink for boys and blue for girls. In 1939, Parents magazine claimed that pink was a good color for boys because it was a pale version of red, which was the color of Mars, the war god. Blue was good for girls because it was the color of Venus, and of the Virgin Mary. So, pink for girls is a relatively recent trend, and utterly random.
I don’t particularly like entertaining. I know I should, but I just don’t.
Until the twentieth century, the T-shirt’s role was strictly to form a barrier between a man’s body and the more valuable clothing he actually wanted the world to see.
What I’ve learned from him is that boundaries are liberating. They can be readjusted all the time, but it’s important to have them... If you burn out, no one’s going to benefit. So it’s in everyone’s interest for you to do what you can and then make it clear that you can do no more.
The bulky caveman boot certainly has a modern heir: Uggs. I feel they are aptly named and don’t belong in this millennium, but I realize I’m in the minority on that.
I try to phrase criticism in the nicest possible way, but I also never lie. If people ask, I assume it’s because they want to know. People are not dumb about these things; they can tell when a compliment isn’t sincere.
Borrowing from cultures without understanding the fundamentals can yield some pretty weird and wholly illogical perversions.
Until the sixteenth century, men – priests, academics, judges, merchants, princes, and many others – wore skirts, or robes. For men, the skirt was a ‘sign of leisure and a symbol of dignity,’ writes Quentin Bell. This is still true for men in high positions. After all, can you imagine the Pope, or Professor Dumbledore, wearing trousers? Have you ever seen a depiction of God wearing pants?
Whether they come from Brooks Brothers or a thrift store, the sweaters we wear have a magnificent ancestry. Their history spans the worlds of Irish fishermen, French knights, World War I soldiers, busty Hollywood ‘sweater girls,’ and the television saint Mr. Rogers. That history lives in each garment. By being aware of it, we can better appreciate what we have.
People use texting and e-mail for everything, but it’s not appropriate for somber situations. If you win an Oscar, tweet away, but if you’re talking about a death or an illness, you need to use more formal channels. For example: You can promote an employee via e-mail, but you can’t fire him. You can ask someone out by e-mail, but you can’t break up with her. Happy occasions can be casual. Sad or serious ones require a personal touch.
In my typical way, I declined to respond, saying that I didn’t want anyone to run to a store just because I endorsed a trend. Besides, a trend is good only if it works for you, your wardrobe, and your lifestyle.
Although there are few things easier than throwing on a dress, something about them communicates that you have made an effort.
Taking the high road is always the best way to go. You feel better about yourself, and the world feels better about you.
Important learning occurs when a struggle is examined and analyzed, diagnosed, and a prescription offered. Ergo, make it work. I believe that we all benefit from the make-it-work practice.