Okay – I’m perhaps a week late with taking on this project, but it’s that time of year again: switching my wardrobe. Goodbye warm, tranquil colors of fall and winter. Hello bright, boisterous colors of spring and summer.

I like to change my wardrobe around the first day of spring each year, although I do bow down to the weather occasionally. Last week I went to storage to grab some of my summer clothing for a work trip to Orlando – more on that in a later post – but I didn’t actually do the full change until this week. It’s somewhat like seeing old friends again. I do miss my clothing, but swapping out my clothing allows me to have even more!

As I went about repacking my colder clothing, I realized something important; this winter was a discovery of sweaters I kept just because I dreaded not having enough, not because I loved them. A few years ago I lived on the East Coast in a place where it was actually cold enough to need a sweater, a coat, a scarf and a hat. I was going to school and working four jobs – spending money on buying a new sweater when I had perfectly adequate ones was not worth it. Especially given most of the time you’re wearing a jacket so no one sees your sweater!

Whatever your poison, make sure you love it.

But now that I’m living where it just doesn’t get that cold and I don’t need a sweater every day, I was much picker about what I kept. Why have something that’s stretched out or faded or shrunk? These items don’t look good on me. They don’t make me happy to wear. I don’t look forward to wearing them. If you’re not excited to wear your own clothes, what is the point? You should enjoy what you put on your own body – maybe it’s yoga wear, maybe it’s jeans and a t-shirt, maybe it’s a full suit. Whatever your poison, make sure you love it.

This cycle of thought made me think Caitlin Moran’s article in Esquire that was recently republished for International Women’s Day. Point number 9 argues, it’s not that we have nothing to wear; it’s that we don’t have what we need to wear for who we need to be today.

Do I ever need to be a lazy hanging out at home person? Yes. But do I ever need to be a faded, less than I once was person? No. So I have different clothes to meet different needs. And when those of clothes of one category start not working for the need, it’s either time to switch them to a new one or get rid of them.

Because I want to enjoy it. Sound spoiled? Maybe. But mornings are tough enough. I don’t need anything in my life – including clothes – that makes me feel bad about myself. I may not be able to control certain things, but I can control what I put on my own body.