Mark
Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no
influence on society.” My wardrobe has led me to happiness and achievement.
However, my early attraction to dressing differently sometimes got me in
trouble.

Don’t Try to
Clique, Dress Unique

Your
unique characteristics often emerge when you are a child. Early on, you may have
been artistic, creative, and funny. To be a happy achiever as an adult, you
need to embrace and celebrate your individual style. This includes how you
dress.

However,
to fit in and feel like we belong in a group, we often suppress our colorful
“odd” aspects. Then somewhere down the road of life, we lose our way and wonder
who we really are.

When I
was in seventh grade, all of 12 years old, my wardrobe selections were a little
off-the-wall. Sometimes, I’d dress in all white. This is amusing, as nowadays,
anytime I wear white clothing, red sauce will invariably leap onto my chest.

My
pride and joy in junior high school was a tooled leather purse from Mexico my
grandmother had given to me. It featured intricate tooled patterns and a pair
of birds.

Dressing
differently and possessing a fancy purse made me a target for a group of tough girls
who made fun of me. The harassment accelerated into bullying and a physical
attack in the halls at school.

A school
counseling session with the group of tough girls didn’t help. The counselor started
the session by asking us, “If you could order any flavor ice cream at
Baskin-Robbins, what would you choose?” Almost each of their answers included chocolate.
Mine was Daquiri Ice. Rather than establish commonality, the exercise only
highlighted my eccentricity.

My
unusual wardrobe selections continued through college and into the workplace.
On a few occasions, I was admonished to dress more professionally.

My Job Allows for
Unique Style

I
wanted to be able to dress with the natural flair I’ve felt since I was a child.
And I finally found a way to do it. I became The Doyenne of Death®, a death
educator who uses humor, funny film clips, and outside-the-box activities to
help people address our 100% mortality rate and plan ahead.

Part
of my brand is clothing: fancy cowboy boots and Western shirts embroidered with
colorful skulls. The clothes make me stand out from the crowd and help start
conversations about end-of-life issues. And all these clothes are a business
expense!

It’s Never Too Late
to Rediscover Your Style

As we
age, if we’ve abandoned our unique characteristics, we may feel lost,
frustrated, and insubstantial. When it comes to clothing, consider these tips
to help hold on to your uniqueness:

• Pick clothing and accessories that
  make you smile and feel good. Why wear anything that makes you feel bad?
• Choose the right colors that complement
  your skin, hair, and eyes. Consider having a color consultant help you discover
  your best color pallet.
• Be bold in your fashion sense. A unique
  style makes you stand out and get noticed.
• If your job requires a uniform,
  express your uniqueness with accessories.
• Create your own job so you can
  dress whatever way you want to!

When
you embrace your uniqueness, you can change the world for the better. As the
Smash Mouth song All Star goes, “Only shooting stars break the mold.”

How
do you prefer to dress these days? What is your unique style? Have you been
able to preserve it over the years? Or have you just recently rediscovered it?
Please share your style adventures with our community!