Seeking Inspirato with Ronnie Carlson in St. George, Utah

I met Ronnie through Marisa, another fantastic *Seeking Inspirato* feature.

Here at Seeking Inspirato we sometimes get caught up in the Daily Inspirato of it all — the day-to-day nuts and bolts of dressing assertively. To make Clothing Confidence accessible, we preach the 4Cs. Cut, Color, Cloth, and Comfort become our go-to clothing hacks to create that Confidence we are seeking. To work an outfit — to feel bold, figure-proud, and at home in our clothes — the 4Cs can get us there.

However, there is also an ineffable quality of Clothing Confidence that can't necessarily be hacked. When we are Seeking Inspirato, we are seeking that flitting, darting, skipping thing we call inspiration. We can't reliably hope to catch it on a day-to-day basis, and we can't reverse engineer it. Nevertheless, it is just as essential for becoming a Clothing Confident person as the 4Cs are.

The 4Cs, as useful as they are, can't capture true Inspiration on a Daily, so we'd now like to introduce you to Ronnie, who reminds us how crucial that indescribable "feeling in the body" is to achieve Clothing Confidence.

Ronnie in her element… strumming a gutair over mountain views in her “back country” attire.

Just You and The Sky

Let me set the stage. You’re out in the wilderness. It’s nighttime, and you look up to the sky to find the entire galaxy shimmering back at you. There are mountains in the distance, just darker than the sky. You’re in cozy, practical clothes. A fire is keeping you warm. You’re safe.

So, you do what anyone would do. You reach for your phone to take a picture of the stars and share the beauty with your friends. As you're feeling around for it though, panic sets in.

Your phone is nowhere to be found.

You sit up.

You’ve got no lifeline, no outside connection.

Just your mind, your body, and nature.

With the exception of the sudden shock, this is the exact experience today’s Seeking Inspirato feature leads teens on. Ronnie is a Wilderness Therapy Field Instructor and uses nature to rehabilitate tumultuous teens.

Teens that go through Ronnie’s programs are guided to ask who they are without distractions like the influence of their peers, parents, teachers, and social media.

You don’t have to be caught smoking, skipping class, or even be a certain age to enjoy the benefits of Wilderness Therapy.

We could all use a little soul-searching to peel away the layers that cloud our authenticity. We could all get back to nurturing ourselves. That’s what we’re going to do today with Ronnie.

Putting the Confidence into Clothing Confidence

Ronnie literally peels back the layers through clothing. The teens she’s working with become equal through appearance when they participate in the program.

They go from their “front country” clothing (what they’d wear day-to-day around their peers) to their “back country” clothing — no makeup, no name brand shoes, no hair products, no manicures … no fronting allowed.

“A lot of them are wealthy so they’ll talk about brands and flex on each other, and it’s like ‘no, we’re all going to wear the same things out here.’”

As time goes on in the program, some teens relax into the person they naturally are but have camouflaged to fit in. Others are made to ask themselves a tougher question. Ronnie explains:

I see a lot of students take that as ‘oh, I’m allowed to be myself now,’ and then others are like ‘wait, who the hell am I?’”

“But I Don’t Know What I Like”

The number one reason holding women back from Clothing Confidence is that they don’t know what they like. I hear it daily. Chances are, you’re one of them reading this article right now.

“What other people think doesn't matter. It’s really hard to actually believe that, but … if you make it a habit to be yourself, eventually … you will get there confidently … There’s a lot of things that I say, and I believe in, [but] it took me a long time to actually believe them … Just because I’m saying this doesn’t mean it’s easy, but that also doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to achieve. I acknowledge how much of a struggle it can be to show up as your authentic self.”

Ronnie’s Clothing Confidence is a monument to the work she’s put into accepting herself and owning exactly who she is and wants to be. She didn’t wake up one day as an authentic person, but built authenticity through hard work of loving herself and owning that self.

No one can create authenticity for you. You cannot overnight ship authenticity-in-a-box. There’s no “quick fix” solution other than to begin nurturing and loving your truest self today.

To show up authentically is to show up as a true and honest person. No white lies. No half truths. No costumes. Becoming your real and actual self requires sincerity and reflection. It’s work.

Ask yourself daily what you like. Try out new styles, and begin developing the Clothing Confident version of yourself. I know she’s in there!

 “You could get so far in life without actually thinking about yourself. I feel blessed that that was something that was [revealed] to me early on, something that matter[ed].”

You’ll know you’re living Clothing Confidently because you’ll go from asking “What should I wear?” to “What do I want to wear”. A simple change of words switches you from sitting passenger-side to holding the wheel.

Not sure where to start? It’s time to start looking for inspiration.

In Search of Why

“I don’t feel very strongly about my clothing out there, and a lot of times I wear the same thing for eight days because it’s just functional … Then it feels really nice to come back and wear my clothes that are for fun and put away the ones that help me survive in the wilderness.”

When a profession requires certain clothing, whether it’s scrubs, outdoor gear, or a bona fide uniform, it’s important to cherish the Clothing Confident moments we do have.

“Sometimes I come out of the field, and I’m super excited to wear my clothes, and then other times I’m like ‘I’ve been wearing a uniform for the past 8 days, what do I even wear now?’”

Feeling creative requires stimulation. Ronnie looks to art for that stimulation after eight days in outdoor gear. That love for art transfers to the wearable art opportunities of dressing herself everyday. Art doesn’t have to be restricted to the hallowed walls of a museum. You can wear it!

“The simplicity of what actually gets me excited, and what actually makes me happy in just going from [the natural world] — it could be a plain white t-shirt, but if it’s really soft, then cool, I’m excited … this is something I’m going to wear.”

Inspiration is a required ingredient to sustain a Clothing Confident lifestyle.

Inspiration takes hold of people differently, but I think we can all agree it’s a feeling in the body. It’s the buzz in the brain, the butterfly in the stomach, the energy that seemed to come from nowhere.

Clothing Confident women have taught me that inspiration is just as important as the basic understanding of how to dress.

Without inspiration there’s no reason to protect, nurture, and showcase your authentic self through clothing. Without inspiration, there’s no reason to dress in a way you love.

Finding your reason, your why is paramount to finding Clothing Confidence.

Sometimes the why can be as simple as a soft t-shirt that melts in your hands and warms your heart. Now you want to wear it.

Your why could be that you want to show your children how to care for themselves by demonstrating it to yourself.

“I want to accurately represent myself and sometimes with clothing it’s like, ‘ah, this is not how I want to show up right now… I definitely feel more creative when I’m like ‘Oh, I’m going to wear this’ and then those times when I don’t feel compelled I’m like ‘ahhh this doesn’t feel great, what do I need to get creative again?’”

When I’m moving, other things in my life begin to move, literally. I empathize with people who are lethargic and who feel their brain isn’t on board with movement. It can feel like sediment is building around your body slowly, and soon, you’re under a dune.

On Losing and Rediscovering Inspiration

I deal with bouts of sadness once in a while, and my biggest gripe isn't the feelings it creates (loneliness, fatigue) but what it takes away.

It robs me of inspiration. If you’ve felt inspiration before, there’s nothing quite like losing it. As Ronnie puts it,

“It’s a noticeable hole.”

Ronnie’s answer to feeling like herself again is simple but invaluable: I’m going to do the things that make me feel like me again.

Ronnie’s job is intense. She’s there for these kids on a 24-hour basis for a week straight, and sometimes, she needs to give herself a little pep talk:

“Ok, let me ground myself and remember who I am again after I've been showing up for others for a week.”

The answer to feeling like herself again is moving her body (even if she doesn't want to). It’s the medicine she needs, and often doesn’t want.

“For so long, I let the part of me that was like ‘no, I don’t want to, that’s too hard’ win over, and then every time I’d be like ‘ok, I need to figure something out,’ and then I’d be like ‘oh, I just need to move.’”

When I’m moving, other things in my life begin to move, literally. I empathize with people who are lethargic and who feel their brain isn’t on board with movement. It can feel like sediment is building around your body slowly, and soon, you’re under a dune.

Sometimes you have to set an alarm on your phone and pretend like it’s an appointment for a workout class, even though it’s just a virtual one. I am an advocate for writing down the things that make you feel good (favorite healthy recipes, a walk route you love, a restaurant you’ve been meaning to try, etc.), and putting them in your house in a highly visible place so that when you’re in a trough of sorrow, you can remember what you need to do to find your way out.

Prioritize your mental health by nourishing and moving your body.

“It took me a long time to realize how crucial that is for me. If I’m stagnant, then I feel stagnant. If I’m holed up inside overthinking things, it’s not helpful. Even if I don’t want to move my body, I still should do it, and then I usually feel better.”

Ronnie has figured out what she needs to put her mental health first and to find inspiration. What do you need?