Snagged: A Meditation (of Sorts) on Buddhism and Fashion

Prompt No. 57: We're back and I wrote this entire piece without a single Victoria Ratcliff quote.

“We move through life with a fragile sense of self. We use clothes to build an identity to appear more solid and permanent: I am this. Too many of us are so concerned with building an identity that we have no idea who we are under what we are. Garments sustain the illusion for only so long, then we need to repeat and reinforce the building process again.” 

- Otto von Busch, The Dharma of Fashion: A Buddhist Approach to Our Life With Clothes

Candidly, I do not know the point of this post yet. I want to share my thoughts on Tibetan Buddhism, both generally and as it relates to fashion and presentation. That’s where my mind wanders these days. But the thought of embarking on that project feels daunting and exhausting. I am already quite tired and struggling to maintain coherence. You see, I was up at 4:30 AM meditating. This is not some Goop, Moon Juice-generated, Erewhon-type spiritual superiority. No, I am just a 43 year old woman. I wake up at odd hours now. Like wide awake. And I need something to do. Normally, I would search for a long read, ingest countless photos on Pinterest, or mistakenly like stolen jokes on Threads. Until I realized I was afraid to just lie there. Racing thoughts are kind of scary, especially in the dark. I used to meditate, so I tried that. It worked. Meditation and a sleep mask. I (forcibly) close my eyes and focus on the breath. Usually I drift off, sometimes feeling a little closer to all sentient beings. However, this morning I remained awake. So I’m writing.