This article has some of my musings on clothes and my style choices now that I have more clothes with me. Lots of people have mentioned that they couldn’t get along as we did on our trip with carry-on luggage. Yet, it turns out there is comfort in having limited clothing choices.
If you want to see my other style articles please see Packing for a 6-Month Trip in Carry-on, Getting Sick of My Clothes – Already?, and 10 Week Wardrobe Update.
Mike’s Tale of Choices
Mike tells the story of a friend who met a girl traveling abroad and he brought her back to the US with him. The first time they went into a grocery store, the girl was so overwhelmed by the number of choices that they left the store without buying a thing. I now know that feeling.
I now feel conflicted every time I get dressed because I was so used to having a small number of clothes to choose from. In fact, the other night we were talking about the 2 pairs of pants, 1 pair of capris, and 1 skort that I took on our big trip, and Mike said: “don’t forget about your favorite white shirt”. I looked at my clothes and said, “Do you mean the shirt I’m wearing now?” He studied my shirt for a few seconds, then he said yeah and we had a good laugh. I still wear the clothes that we traveled with.
You might think we would want to burn our clothes when we got back from our trip but no so. We became rather attached to these clothes because we know they can go the distance relative to washing, wearing and packing.
Choices and More Choices
I now have more clothes to choose from, thanks to the extra suitcase we now have with us. But all of these choices have made me less comfortable, not more comfortable. We have also unpacked here in Mexico because our stay is longer.
Because we unpacked, my clothes are no longer neatly organized in packing cubes, as they had been on our trip. Now, my clothes are in two different drawers and in the closet so getting dressed requires an extensive trip around the room, sometimes two trips. Not to say anything about all of the decisions I now have to make.
My Solution
In terms of finding a solution, I’ve got nothing. Do you guys have any ideas? Mike says the obvious thing is to get rid of some stuff, but I’m not ready for such a bold step. I’ve even realized that all of the extra clothes actually mix and match with everything else I have. A friend asked me recently if I was bored with wearing black and white all the time. Apparently not.
Maybe I just don’t care anymore or I don’t care what strangers think. I did pay more attention when we were in the Bay Area visiting friends. But here in Mexico, to go out to dinner, I choose between my black skirt and my black capris and one of the many shirts I have. No jewelry, no accessories and I’m still having trouble with the shirt decision. Come to think of it, I’m having trouble with all of my decisions, what to eat, what bathing suit to wear, should I wear my hat today, is it cocktail time yet? I know, these are high-class problems to have. Indecisiveness is not one of my traits. Yet, here we are.
Maybe this is what Mexican life is all about, total relaxation and no worries about what you are wearing. Let’s see if things change in Europe.
Any thoughts on overcoming too many choices?
4 comments
I think this points out how much time we are wasting on clothing decisions. I can’t remember what you were wearing when we had lunch recently, so it’s really not that important! I thought I like choices, but now I may be rethinking that‼️
I think it matters if you are dressed out of the norm. Very overdressed or underdressed.
I think it’s great that you traveled with fewer items and could mix and match. I think we all may have too many choices most days.
Here’s an article I wrote about traveling around with just a carry-on:
https://www.wishes-n-wanderlust.com/home/just-a-carry-on
It could be that our minds gravitate toward having “a project”. So, in the absence of the previous projects you worked on in pre-roving-retirement, decisions that were routine before might now serve as a project for your brain.