I have a problem with getting dressed in October. Actually, I have several problems with getting dressed in October because this is the month when I never seem to know what I am supposed to wear. I can look out of the window in the morning, check the weather, have a good think about it and still get it totally wrong. It might look freezing but can be quite warm or it might look lovely and sunny but then the wind will be horrible and cold wind that makes me wish I'd put a proper coat on. October really does make getting dressed much harder than it needs to be!
In the morning I wake up and it is cold. Not freezing where I am thinking of putting the heating on but definitely cold enough that I don't want to get out of bed. The duvet becomes my best friend and getting dressed feels like a chore. If I had my way, I would change into my fleecy PJs and stay in them all day. Over the last year or so, I have realised I can't sleep in them any more as I wake up in a hot sweat, thanks to peri-menopause. I will get myself dressed and usually put a jumper on as it's cold when I am out of bed but half an hour later I wonder why I bothered as I am far too warm.
You need to dress for the temperature at 8am but you also need to think about what it is going to be like at 1pm. Then you need to remember that by 6pm it could be cold again. So really, you are trying to dress for three different days while only actually getting dressed once. October is the month when I rely on a T-shirt underneath a jumper so at least I can take a layer off.
The coat is another problem. I have the same argument with myself at this time of year about whether it is finally time to get the big coat out. I will look at it hanging there and think it's not time for that yet and then I will go outside and realise it is actually quite cold and wish I had brought it. So I go back inside, put it on and feel pleased that I have finally accepted that autumn has arrived. Five minutes later, I regret it.
That is the annoying thing. You can leave the house in a coat because it looks cold and then suddenly the sun comes out. Now you are walking around carrying your coat over your arm for the rest of the day. You are trying to hold your handbag, your phone, whatever shopping you have bought and your coat and you are thinking why did I need to bring it? Then the next day you decide you don't need it and that's the day you freeze!
I also don't know when we are supposed to officially stop wearing summer clothes. Is there a date? If it is a mild October day, I am quite happy to wear a T-shirt or a summer dress. I am not ready to suddenly start dressing like it is December just because the calendar has changed. There are still days when the sun is shining and I look outside and think it's not too bad, so I put on a lighter top and head out. Then see somebody wearing a big coat and I start wondering whether I've made the wrong choice but then I see somebody else in a T-shirt and realise that maybe nobody actually knows what they are doing. We are all just guessing.
October has this strange middle stage where my summer wardrobe is still there but I don't really want to wear most of it and my winter clothes are sitting there waiting for me to admit defeat. I don't want to get all the big winter jumpers out too early because once they are out, I feel like summer is properly over. I like autumn but I am not ready for winter quite yet!
I have a wardrobe full of clothes and nothing to wear! None of it is right. A T-shirt? Too cold. A jumper? Probably too warm later. A cardigan? Maybe. A thicker jumper? Too much. A dress? No idea and after trying to work it out for far too long, I will usually end up putting on the same jeans and jumper I wore a few days ago because at least I know where I am with that outfit.
In winter, you know it is cold. You get your coat, your warm clothes and your boots and you get on with it. In summer, you know it is warm and you can put on something light without having to think about it too much. October is somewhere in between. You don't know what you are going to get. Getting dressed should not involve this much decision making!
I think I am just going to accept that I will probably get it wrong quite a lot this month. I will keep my summer dresses out because there will still be mild days. I will keep the jumpers close by because the mornings are definitely getting colder. I will probably continue to argue with myself about the big coat for at least another couple of weeks and I will keep looking at my wardrobe every morning as though the answer is going to suddenly appear. It won't and I will still have no idea what to wear.
Do you struggle to get dressed at this time of year?
