We are all learning how to deal with new challenges all the time, but during COVID-19, we are finding ourselves with more unknowns than usual. I don’t know about you but for me, that’s resulted in a couple of dropped balls. Fortunately it was nothing serious, no one got hurt and they were all fixable. I’ll give you a little example. Last week I walked onto my front stoop to find a package. I hadn’t ordered anything but I had a birthday a couple weeks ago maybe it was for that? Or maybe something I ordered a long time ago and had forgotten? I picked it up and it was a Stitch Fix box. Well, shit.
I had restarted the boxes about a month before the COVID-19 lock down in the hopes that I could find a couple key pieces I always struggled with (like a light blazer for example). I got one box, loved everything in it, and snapped it up. I set my deliveries to every 3 months since that’s a reasonable time frame for me to swap out a few good pieces. Then I mostly forgot about it. So when it turned up on my door step 3 months later I was surprised and immediately started beating myself up. “I can’t afford this! I can’t believe I forgot to cancel!” “Oh no! These are so expensive and I don’t even need clothes right now cuz I hardly leave my house!” Then I took a minute. “What did this really hurt? The box was $20 and I can probably find one piece in there for a reasonable cost so I don’t “lose” that money.” “I don’t need clothes right this second but I will need some tops at least soon.” I went through the box, tried stuff on and found a few tops that will be perfect and even a pair of comfy dress pants that will come in handy. I had set up the box to be budget friendly because I never have a big clothes budget anyway so I packed it up, guilt free, made comments online, and put a reminder in my calendar to cancel it in July unless there’s something I’m looking for. And you know what? It was really nice to put on a not t-shirt and check myself out in the mirror. I felt pretty good with what they sent me and I got to do a little retail therapy in the comfort of my own home, with no sales pressure, minimal COVID-19 concerns, and time to move and shift in the clothes to make sure they fit right before I purchased them.
What I’m saying is, don’t sweat the small stuff. You’re going to forget things. We’ve all had to change our behavior so much in a very short time and you know what? Most of us have done a very good job. We remember masks, we wash our hands, we give people more space. Sometimes you’re gonna get a Stitch Fix box and that’s OK.
Also I know this sounds like an ad for Stitch Fix, it’s not…but it could be!