I am a material girl. Not Manolo Blahnik shoes or luxury vacations kind of high maintenance (although I wouldn’t turn them down.) But… a pedicure every three weeks, brow waxes, regular haircuts and color, expensive makeup and name-brand dresses, feel like a necessity. I can spot a knock-off purse or a bad pair of jeans in an instant, and it gives me anxiety.
Sometimes I feel ashamed of this. I want to be someone I admire, someone less superficial with better values, someone who doesn’t fall prey to the marketing world’s messages of what a woman needs to do to feel pretty.
Other times I think, what the hell. I want to look exactly how I want to look. If I was born on a little house on the prairie, I would still want to sew the prettiest dresses and run around in the tall grass to make them spin.
I just happen to be born in the right body, at the right time, in the right country. As long as wearen’t hurting anybody, what’s wrong with embracing who we are?
The truth is, it doesn’t matter. As I go through this transition in my life, I can no longer afford to buy whatever I want. If I am going to build a solid foundation for my future, I need to buckle down. It’s time to paint my own nails, pass that perfect Free People dress taunting me from the hanger, and say “No thank you,” to that gorgeous new shade of lip-gloss shimmering behind the counter.
Like a weak woman lifting weights each day, gradually I will become stronger. We become disciplined with practice. This is my hope anyhow, because the 80’s are long gone, and this material girl needs to live with her rules for 2015.
Just don’t ask me to give up the scented candles and lotions or the occasional purchase of best-selling books from Barnes & Noble. That’s where I draw the line. That would be asking too much.
What can’t you resist splurging on???