We think your story is fascinating, SarahLynn003. Good luck! —Sparkitors
For most people, a coat, jacket, or sweater is simply a fashion statement, or something to wear when it gets cool. As a native Californian, I never had a high threshold for cold. Add that to the fact that I was a very skinny child; I was constantly cold. Thus, from a young age I wore a jacket everywhere I went. But as I got older I took it off less, and less, and less. I wore it even in the summer, in the park, in Arizona. No matter how hot I was I refused to take off my jacket. It became a part of me.
I became contained in the small bubble my jacket provided. I kept everything in its pockets, my phone, my iPod, my money… everything you would normally keep in a purse. As I went through puberty I became even more afraid of taking it off—my body was changing but as long as I kept my jacket on nobody would know. Whenever my dad took it away, saying it was too hot to be wearing it, I would cry and plead and beg until he gave it back to me. It really was more like a mental disorder. I truly felt cold without it on, no matter how hot I was before I took it off, because that was my body’s way of dealing with losing my comfort item. Young kids have special blankets, and I had a jacket.
I entered high school still wearing my jacket. I went through freshman year wearing the jacket.
It was just recently, finally, ≤ of the way through my sophomore year, that I donned a gigantic pair of confidence pants, and I took off my jacket. I wasn’t sweating, I wasn’t even hot, but I had felt the sun on my face for the first time in 7 months and I wanted to feel it on my arms, too. And you know what, it wasn’t that bad. I was really cold at first but then I started to feel better. And for the first time in about 8 months, I felt sun on my arms. And I felt my hair brushing against my arms. I realized my arms had forgotten the feeling of not being in a cloth cave.
Another thing, no one laughed at me, no one gave me weird looks, in fact people even complimented me on my outfit. I did put my jacket back on eventually, but I managed without the jacket for 7 whole hours. I probably won’t stop wearing it completely, but I won’t sweat to death from living in it. And who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be awesomeboss enough to go without it everywhere. :)
Did you ever have a jacket or METAPHORTICAL jacket you couldn't take off?
Related Post: Confidence Pants Stories: Breakdancing
Post a comment!