Restyle Challenge: Bell Sleeves v1

There’s no better feeling than to reconnect with an old friend after being apart. After an ebb and flow of many life events, it’s nice to come back to a familiar space. It’s a bit like an old friendship – you don’t see each other often but whenever you talk it feels natural/you feel right at home. With the time apart, there are lots of exciting stories and experience to be shared.

At the same time, it’s been good to take some time away from the blog. The best thing about taking a break from something is that it allows you to look at things in a different light, thus leading to new discoveries. It clears the clutter, quiet the noise and clear the lenses so you can clarify your goals. Sometimes it’s more productive to disconnect in order to allow more space to reconnect.

I recently watched a TED talk by Manoush Zomorrodi about how being bored can spark creativity. Having time to idle can actually generate innovative ideas (BBC). You don’t need to fill up your time. your brain already creates enough stimulus on its own. Boredom allows your brain wander – it allows different types of connections to develop – so you can solve problems creatively and be your brilliant self.

In the last year I’ve divided my time among several things- relationships, hobbies and career, always balancing, re-prioritizing and improvising. I am sure most can relate. One thing I learned was to realize my own limitations and take mental breaks whenever possible. There is so much noise and distraction around us, let alone the self talk, that it’s easy to gravitate towards things like technology to occupy our time. In times like these, a mental break is much needed in order to keeps us grounded, so we can shut out the noise and listen to our authentic voice, or rather, let our mind speak for itself.

Sometimes you are your own source of inspiration and creativity.

As I looked back at all the past blog posts the other day, though they were nothing close to perfection, I could truly feel a sense of genuine joy. It wasn’t just about the fashion and the images, it was about the simple pleasure of sharing one’s passions with the world. Truly I felt inspired, by the stories and the voice of how I was, and somewhat still am.

So I decided to go back to the roots. I started this blog from a 30 day restyling challenge. I had to create 30 outfits from my 30-item capsule wardrobe. It was an opportunity to exercise creativity and find new ways to look at things, all whilst reusing as much as possible. It was about approaching problems in new ways that can ultimately bring us more joy and meaning. We all need a source of inspiration and I hope you will find yours too.