As a teenager, purple used to be my favorite color. And I wore it all. the. time.
But then, someone made a comment to me, “You ALWAYS wear purple. Do you ever wear ANY other color?”
The comment stung. And I slowly stopped wearing purple because I figured maybe everyone was tired of me wearing it.
As I’ve alluded to here a little bit, I’ve been on life-impacting journey this year of re-discovering parts of me that I’ve shoved down deep for many years. I’m allowing myself the space and permission to be ME… That girl I silenced and shamed for a long time in favor of being who I thought I’m supposed to be or who I thought other people expected me to be.
And so, in this spirit, recently I bought two purple shirts from Zulily and got a purple manicure. These bright purple shirts make me so happy and remind me to not live my life according to other people’s comments or what I think I’m supposed to be in order to make people happy or pleased or impressed.
I’m embracing these pops of color… And I’m re-discovering joy and peace and happiness in unexpected places — like in looking through the latest issue HGTV magazine.
(Yes, for real! Minimalist me adores the HGTV magazine!! I didn’t think I would, but someone sent me a subscription awhile back and I’m thoroughly surprising myself with how much I love each issue. I might not ever actually do any of the projects, but the pages inspire me to cultivate beauty in our home and lives. By the way, I posted a great deal on a subscription today if you’re interested.)
I too love purple. It always makes me feel like the Proverbs 31 woman; “She is clothed in fine linen and purple”
Thank you so much for this post! Pink and purple are my favorites, but I have been enjoying them only on my tween daughters. Last night I painted my nails “hot pink” and smiled this morning as I caught a glimpse of my mani-pedi. It really is the small things, like a pop of our favorite color, that make us who we are, and therefore authentic and happy. Cheers to pink, purple, orange, blue….and favorite colors of every sweet sister!
Crystal, I’m loving reading these posts about the positive discoveries and changes you are making this year! Your self-confidence is blossoming!
This post really hit me today. I’ve stopped doing so many things in my life because of (offhand) comments random people have made that weren’t even necessarily directed toward me. Your words are helping me put aside those feelings of “I shouldn’t” and instead trying to say, “Why not?!” Thank you!
I’m SO glad this post inspired you! Thank you for taking the time to share!
I can understand your post because I too stopped wearing a color a long time ago because people made comments on how often I wore it. For me the color was pink. It has always been my favorite color and it makes me so happy when I wear it that a couple of years ago I decided to start wearing it again! I’m so glad that I did. I also have decided lately to stop worrying about what other people think and to start doing things for myself that give me joy. Life is too short! Plus I’m a much better wife and mom when I can do things that make me happy too! Sometimes just little things can make a big difference.
Whoever told someone NOT to wear a color is an idiot! Everyone should wear whatever they like & the world be damned!
As a native new yorker, black & blue are my favorite colors & I wear them a lot: 90% of my clothing & shoes. My hair is currently bright blue & will be til the end of time ? I’m 49 so I’ve got a lot of years ahead of me.
Please people- life is to short not to wear colour you like!
Good for you!!!!! I love purple! I am the opposite, though. If someone told me all I ever wear is purple, it’d make me want to wear more — and every shade of purple available — and then I’d want to ask them how they like me outfit! Ha ha ha! God is the master artist and He made all the colors there are, and made us in His image – let’s enjoy the beauty!!
It took me years to start wearing purple again too after a similar comment. Really changed how I talked to my son about clothes… how we don’t care what people think or say as long as we’re comfortable with ourselves. I’ve made sure he understands that it’s okay to wear designer or garage sale clothes. They are just clothes.
I love color too! I am a minimalist and will not apologize for it. Can you tell I’m ornery in my old age? I was always that quiet girl that let others always have a more important opinion than mine. I have put my opinion into action. Just for me. And I’m HAPPY.
WAY TO GO!
Loving it, Crystal. Go you! 🙂
I have waist length, red hair and I wear almost exclusively purple and green! At 36 years old, I too have learned to wear what makes me happy (and also looks fantastic with my hair!)
Inspiration Thx! 🙂
Love this! I love blue. It makes me deep down happy…every single glorious shade 🙂 I recently stopped fighting it. My entire house and closet are pretty much blue…and I love it!
Rock that purple!!
This is funny, because yesterday I was noticing that I’m starting to wear a ton of purple again, too. I always loved the color, but, like you, someone once told me that it wasn’t my best color.
Kudos to you for being yourself! I love the way you highlight what being true to yourself really is. Sometimes I hear that phrase and I’m just not sure how to try it. But digging back to find the small things (like this) that make you happy is definitely doable and so fun!
For me, it was flowers. I wore flowered everything. Cute, trendy, 90s small florals and big daisies. And then someone commented about me ALWAYS wearing flowers and I second guessed it and stopped wearing then so often. IM JUST NOW getting them back into my wardrobe. It’s sad that it sometimes takes until our 30s to not give a darn about what we wear!!
I’m chuckling because as a young teen I wore blue plaid button downs nearly every day of the week. I wore them because they seemed cheerful without being flashy. But one day when I did branch out and wore something of a gorgeous purple color, I got so many compliments! There are SO many wrong ways that teens think about themselves and their clothes. I really enjoyed this peek into how your thinking has changed 🙂 And yes, the purple in your photo is beautiful! So royal and deep. Keep it up!
I loved this article! As a non-traditional student who returned to college in my 40’s, I had a similar thing happen. One day another student told me in front of several others that purple must be my favorite color as I wear it all the time! That comment made me hesitant to wear that color to college anymore. Thanks for the encouragement boost to continue to be me and not who others think I should be 🙂
If people thought about what they were saying before they said it the world would be a much nicer place. I’ve always loved to dance, when I was about 8 years old I was made fun of by a boy in class and I overheard a favorite aunt make a derogatory comment about my dancing. All in the same week. I didn’t dance much after that, and if I did in my head I was thinking how bad I am at it. Fast forward to when I was 49 years old, I saw an ad for beginner ballroom dance lessons. I thought why not? I’m old now, no one cares how bad I am. I wasted many years sitting on the sidelines. I’m a very good dancer, I just needed some training. I perform all the time and love it! I don’t let other people’s opinions influence my life anymore.
Awesome, Liz! So happy for you to enjoy dancing and realize how good you can be. How sad that so much of the fun was missed because of others’ comments. Enjoy!
I am very late commenting but your comment makes me SO HAPPY, Liz B! You’re living out one of my mom’s favorite quotations which is it’s never too late to become who you were meant to be. It’s unfortunate so many of us wait years to do these things BUT it’s better to truly live than to exist. And I’m thrilled you’re dancing and loving it!!!
Purple…esp. in flower gardens, to me looks absolutely stupendous!!! I notice in this photo you are wearing a kind of royal purple…how pretty!! It is amazing how other people can shred us with just a few words, isn’t it? I had a blue dress I made when I was in college and I LOVED that dress so much…so I wore it every time I had to take a test…and I noticed I got a bit higher grades EVERY TIME!! Weird huh?
I was not teased about anything I wore, but I grew up ashamed of my gorgeous deep auburn hair…which now I would give my right arm to have (old age catches up with a person). Not until I reached high school and some of the girls in our high school dyed their hair as close to my color as they could did I realize it was not so bad to have “red hair”. Had I only realized that true redheads are such a small percentage of the entire population (something like 7% or less), maybe I could have at least felt special. But even if my dad had known that fact there is no way he would have allowed anyone to let me feel special about it (might get a swelled head you know). I never really felt beautiful until I met my husband in high school. He adored my hair and even now, with almost all the color gone, he still makes me feel pretty all these years later (almost 44 of marriage now). Glad to hear you now feel better about wearing what makes you happy!!
I LOVE how your husband adores you! That makes me so happy. And YAY for 44 years of marriage!!
My favorite color is purple!! I do wear it often. And when I got a pedicure done, I chose purple because even though it’s not a typical color for nails… it’s my favorite color! And afterwards my sisters said “awe it’s very *you!*” (in a good way 😉 )
Way to go! I know you’ve done that course about colors, but purple actually looks really nice on you too. My daughter commented on it while I was watching the email webinar today! 🙂
Oh, how sweet! Thanks so much for your kind words!
Too funny! Purple is my favorite color (and it was my grandma’s, too, so it reminds me of her). My friend made a similar comment to me about wearing it constantly. It did sting, but I continued to wear purple!
It’s important to wear what you love and what makes you feel good, even if others disagree! It’s so funny how wearing a certain color can give you an extra boost of confidence. If it makes you feel good, it’s worth it, even if others get sick of seeing purple!
“It’s so funny how wearing a certain color can give you an extra boost of confidence.”
SO true!!
I have always loved Orange! I know it’s not for everyone but as a child I always thought I would live in a house painted Orange and every chance that I had, I always picked the color orange whether it was a flower, clothes or anything. Being that the color orange was ridiculed by most, I grew to be embarrassed by my favorite color. I also tried to trick myself into thinking that another color may be my favorite. I built a new house and could not of course paint it orange. So I painted it yellow. Low and behold, after the sun has faded it, one would think that it would be a pale color of yellow , but it’s not. It now shines in the sun a shade of orange. Who would have thunk? I’m happy, and that’s the bottom line!
I loved this comment!
Good job!! On being you and who God created you to be. I love purple also. I used to wear only black and navy and dark green but now I love purple, teal and pink. Bright colors. They make me happy and oddly enough I feel more comfortable in my own skin in them. Thanks for sharing Crystal. You inspire me daily.
I love this! Thanks so much for sharing!
I LOVE it! I noticed you were wearing purple in the webinar today. It looks great on you! Hooray for re-discovering these important parts of you! That is awesome.
Aw, thank you so much for your kind encouragement!