New Wardrobe ... New Me!

I finally came to the realization this weekend that I pretty much had no clothes that fit me anymore. I had a drawer full of 46" jeans that were ridiculously huge on me (I was a 54" when I started), and a closet full of shirts ranging from 2x to 4x. I had some 42" jeans that I had purchased a few months ago, but those were starting to fall off me as well.

I work in an office ... and I've always been the guy that wears jeans to work because that's all I could find that fit me. Nobody ever gave me grief about it, it was just understood. Our loosely enforced dress code never seemed to apply to me, probably out of pity. At that size, people are just happy you're wearing clothes in the first place, I think.

Well, my wife talked me into going clothes shopping, and while I hate spending money on something as un-thrilling as clothes, I had to agree ... it was time. I purged my closet of all my non-fitting clothes. Anything with 3 or more X's went in the pile to go to Goodwill. It was a surprisingly large pile ... then again, they were surprisingly large shirts. Just think of all the xylophones that could have been spelled with all those wasted X's! It's tragic really. The 2X's should probably go as well, but I didn't want to leave myself with only a handful of shirts to my name.

So, instead of going to the gym Sunday night, we went to the local department store, where I tried on an endless parade of shirts and pants. Having always loathed clothes shopping as some cruel act of mental flagellation, I have to say ... this was highly enjoyable. There were so many options available to me. I didn't even have to shop in the Big & Tall section.

Since I was purchasing a new wardrobe anyways ... I decide to make the change to grown-up clothes. I wound up with a number of nice dress shirts (XL), and a few pairs of Dockers (40"). Even better ... I'm on the verge of Large shirts and a 38" waistline. I could have gone that route, but I wanted to be able to breathe!

I knew I'd take some flack from my coworkers for it, and I was right. Comments like "Are you trying to get the CEO's job?" That sort of thing. It's funny how you can be afraid to dress nice, because you know it's going to draw attention to you, which is something I've always tried to avoid (maybe it's just me). But it's been totally worth it. I'm walking around with an increased sense of self confidence these days. And nearly a week in, my coworkers are starting to adapt.

I went out to grab lunch yesterday and a nice attractive lady smiled at me ... It took me a second to realize that I didn't have to be ashamed, and I could smile back.

They say the clothes make the man ... they could be right.