Author: Megan Stewart

Last year, while scrolling through Instagram, I had a sudden realization – I hated my closet. This wasn’t because I didn’t have enough clothes or they weren’t trendy enough – in fact, my closet was overflowing – but because none of them felt like me. My entire closet reflected ideals I’d absorbed through various forms of social media – I needed to look skinnier, more interesting, more “put together”. All of which I believed would make me more palatable and easier to like.

Fashion is meant to be an outlet for creativity and joy – yet somehow, it became a mirror reflecting
everything I believed I wasn’t.

I remember dreading the return of low-rise jeans. I’d miss my baggy pants – the way they allowed my body to feel like a suggestion, not a spotlight. For some reason, I hadn’t even stopped to realize that I didn’t actually need to partake in these trends.

Growing up, (especially as a teenager), clothes were never just clothes. They were forms of silent judgement. When jean shorts stopped fitting after winter, it didn’t just mean I’d grown – it meant, in my mind, that my body was wrong. Crop tops were trophies for perfectly flat, toned stomachs. A way of showcasing you must’ve been on a treadmill for hours or hadn’t decided to peruse the grocery shelves and picked up a brownie instead of a fruit cup. Anything I put on my body when I was younger was a direct result of trying to convey a message to my peers. This wasn’t just my inner voice – it was school hallways, magazine headlines, and countless influencers on my For You Page with impossibly flat stomachs and expensive athleisure that always seemed to fit their bodies exactly.

Our generation has had more access to the world than ever before – and while this can bring a multitude of good things such as better education and worldly awareness, it can also lead to us feeling trapped in our own skin when we’re fed thousands of videos of people with bodies we wished we had. Even trends like the “clean girl” aesthetic make us feel like we’re somehow failing.. It’s difficult to remind yourself that not everyone is actually fortunate enough to wake up at 6am and start their day with an unnaturally green smoothie and an expensive pilates workout. It makes us feel as though we are the ones doing something wrong. The pressure to look “effortlessly perfect” and fit in with those surrounding us, especially over the internet, can become all-consuming. The generation of teenagers currently have the highest rates of body image issues, even in the face of the “self love” movement. Taking small steps towards reclaiming our identities and self-perception is the key to moving in a positive direction regarding body-image and self-appreciation.

But here’s the twist: I decided to stop letting fashion dictate how I should feel about myself – not by changing my body, but by reclaiming style as something playful, expressive, and mine. Fashion standards may impact mental wellbeing, but creativity has the power to flip the script and put us back in charge of our perception of ourselves.

Growing up, I spent most of my childhood wearing princess dresses sewn by my grandma and cutting my own hair. The first time I’d decided to reject the standards around me was when I’d made the decision to dye my hair various shades of the rainbow throughout highschool. That was the first decision I’d ever made because I liked it rather than thinking everyone else would find it appealing. I couldn’t believe making a decision because I wanted to would bring me so much joy – I felt oddly powerful.

Creative expression, whether this is in the form of choosing patterns you like, dying your hair an unnatural colour, or wearing bolder colours than is considered “socially acceptable”, has infinite benefit. Studies have shown that creative expression, especially in fashion, is linked to reduced anxiety and depression, improved self-esteem, and an increase in positive body image. Our bodies should be viewed as a canvas, not a cage. Once I discovered this, I spent hours delving down the rabbit hole of Pinterest, curating inspiration boards for things that felt like me rather than what was currently trendy. I never thought of fashion as a creative outlet, but I soon realized that embracing brighter colours, distinctive belt buckles, and unique patterns was the key to feeling more like myself in my own skin.

So if you’ve ever looked in the mirror and hated what you saw – try inventing your own rules. Walk into a secondhand store and let yourself gravitate toward the sequins, the loud prints, the pieces that make you smile for no logical reason. A weird accessory. A pair of pants that make you feel like you. Dress not for approval, but for joy. You don’t owe anyone an explanation. The first step is seeing fashion not as a way to conform, but as a way to speak – to say, this is me. Remember, our bodies aren’t cages – they’re canvases. And you’ve always been enough.

What if fashion wasn’t about fitting in, but about breaking free? Maybe the most radical thing we can do is dress for ourselves – joyfully, unapologetically, and without permission.

In Calgary, where winters stretch on for seemingly forever and unpredictable weather surrounds us, staying connected to nature can be a challenge. That being said, nurturing this connection is becoming increasingly crucial for mental well-being. Being present in the natural world doesn’t have to be this long-winded activity and can be as simple or immersive as desired. The benefits of immersing yourself in nature can come from a range of experiences — from simply observing and strolling through green spaces (like the Devonian Gardens on the top floor of the Core Shopping Centre!) to more hands-on practices like tending to a garden.

The different kinds of activities engaged in bring different benefits. For example, simply observing a garden and immersing yourself in a green space tends to help lift mood, while engaging actively in activities like gardening or flower arranging helps encourage mindfulness, physical health, and creativity. These kinds of practices have been coined Therapeutic Horticulture.

Physically, gardening helps provide a relatively stress-free form of exercise, helping support mobility and reduce stress. This can be an extremely effective form of exercise for those with limited mobility or older groups that are looking for a new, innovative way to stay more connected to both their bodies and minds. Activities like gardening or flower arranging also tend to come with a sense of community and opportunities to connect with others in lower stress environments through engaging in a shared activity. The more intensive forms of therapeutic horticulture like gardening have also been shown to significantly help provide purpose to the lives of older individuals who live in care homes or chronically ill and disabled individuals who may spend significant amounts of time in spaces like hospitals.

While initially we may not think of flower arranging as a standard artistic practice, the process of selecting colours, shapes, and textures when doing an activity like this mirrors several other artistic practices that we know and love in the therapeutic settings. These practices offer a gentle, restorative, holistic path to healing — and a way to cultivate resilience and joy through being physically present in nature.

The real beauty of these practices lies in their accessibility. The activities can be adapted to suit the needs of such a wide range of people and can be used in combination with other forms of therapeutic practices. Whether tending to a backyard garden, arranging fresh flowers from a market, decorating a windowsill with plants, or drying out an old bouquet of flowers to liven up a living space, these kinds of small acts connect us more physically to nature and the world surrounding us — helping us be a part of something larger than ourselves.

Through fostering community gardens—or encouraging people to create green spaces at home—we can help further bridge the gap between artistic expression and mental wellbeing. In Calgary, where the landscape may not always feel like it cooperates, these practices remind us that growth, restoration, and beauty are always within reach—and often, right at our fingertips.