Sandbox

From the Sandbox: Experienced Clothing by Melissa Kong

August 12th, 2010 by Nirav Devnani

Picture by Nirav Devnani.

Every day, our community manager, Nirav Devnani, reads through his feed of all Sandboxers’ blog posts. Every Thursday, he chooses the most inspiring, funny or brilliant one and reposts it on this blog. This post has been written by Sandboxer Melissa Kong. The original version can be found here.

During my last trip to Boston, I spent some time wandering around Cambridge. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a sign on a store window that read “We Sell Experienced Clothing”. Hmmm. Experienced clothing? What is that?

Of course, I couldn’t resist the urge to go inside and find out for myself. Much to my chagrin, it was just a small thrift shop. But unlike most thrift shops, this one didn’t sell “used clothing.” Oh, no- this particular shop sold “experienced clothing.” Now, the change seems minute. The label for “used clothing” is different, but nonetheless, it is still just used clothing…or is it?

I doubt I would’ve ever walked into that store had the sign on the window read “We Sell Used Clothing.” The word “used” isn’t really a brilliant selling point; after all, how many people actually want clothing that has been used up already? Experienced clothing on the other hand…now that’s something I would buy. The clothes are experienced! They know exactly what they are doing; they know how to weather the storms of life- stains, sweat…even countless spins in the washer and dryer. How cool is that? When I hear the term “experienced clothes,” I imagine someone taking them out for a test drive to make sure they are resilient enough for me.

As I walked out of the thrift store (with an experienced black cardigan, might I add), I thought about how drawn I had been to the term “experienced clothing.” It was that very slight change in the way “used clothing” was marketed that got me- and I’m sure many other customers- into that store.

Life is a lot like this isn’t it? The things, events, people and places we come across in our lifetimes- they are all relatively neutral. We are the ones who assign meaning to them: fun, boring, worthwhile, pointless, exciting, mean, unoriginal, unique, fabulous, drab, breathtaking. And, every time we think about or share our experiences with others, we are essentially marketing our own particular interpretations of those otherwise neutral things, events, people and places.

From this, we begin to see how perspective changes everything about our lives and how we experience them. For example, imagine two different people who are battling cancer. One becomes bitter, wondering “Why me?” The other is grateful and optimistic, never taking another minute of life for granted.

Both people are struggling with the same life-threatening illness…but they approach that reality in two completely different ways. Why? It comes down to perspective- and that alone changes everything.

Whatever you’ve got going on in your life right now- whatever you are worried about- take a minute to put it all in perspective. What’s the worse that could happen? Where is the incessant worrying and wishing getting you? Are you a better person because of it? Is the situation any better because of it?

If not, just stop. Don’t spend another minute assigning the worst label possible to what you are going through. Whatever it is, why think of yourself as having been “used”, when you could see it as yet another rich experience that you get to grow and learn from?

The labels we assign to things, relationships and situations determine how we come to understand our lives. The happiest people are those who can slap the best possible label onto any of the circumstances they face. They find the joy, the meaningfulness and the lessons in everything that happens in their lives. The happiest people know that life is only as good as they imagine it to be.

Take a minute to reflect on what a gift your life is…and every moment- every day- is another opportunity to soak it all in. Of course, not every day is perfect- even for the most optimistic individual. But it’s not about perfection- it’s about perception.

So if anyone ever asks, remember this: you aren’t used – just experienced. =)

Melissa Kong is currently Assistant Brand Manager at Time Inc. Home Entertainment, as well as Editor-in-Chief at Studentbranding.com. Her next goal is to raise $25,000 to build a school in India through the non-profit organization, Pencils of Promise