As an awkward shy kid, it took me a long time to feel comfortable being myself, and that’s one of the things that drew me to costumes and cosplay in the first place. Because if I wasn’t comfortable being me, I could at least pretend to be uber confident as Wonder Woman. And possibly from the years of pretending, and a bit of becoming a mom, getting older and having a lower tolerance to caring what people think, I finally got to where I feel the most comfortable of all just being me.

The inspiration behind this post is from a recent incident involving the above sweaterdress, which is something I’ve had for years. It’s comfy and warm and I only get to wear it a couple times a year when Florida isn’t a sweltering inferno. I didn’t get to wear it during Halloween or Christmas, so when the temperature finally dropped to the 40s this week, I was excited to finally pull it out of the back of the closet.

I was feeling cute, until my husband teased me a bit about my outfit, asking if I was really wearing a dress covered in skulls and bones to a city committee meet and greet type thing. I know he wanted to make a good impression and was wearing a nice collared shirt for the occasion. And in my mind, I too, had dressed nice for the occasion. So I hesitated, then I told him I’m comfortable with who I am, and if someone doesn’t like it, that’s their problem. I’m a 40+ year old mom that dresses up in costumes and writes about geek stuff, and that’s exactly who they’re going to get. So if I wanna wear the skulls, I’m going to wear the skulls.

And, because my husband loves me no matter what I’m wearing, he backpedaled and said I looked nice, skulls and all.

And you know what? I got lots of compliments and we actually met people just because of my dress. I was quite happy at the result and managed to only say “I told you so” a couple times. And it was a good reminder to me that cosplay is fun, but being comfortable being yourself is really the best thing you can be ❤️.