Monday Confessions: How You Shape Me Without Even Trying

It's Monday morning in LA, just after 9 AM, and I'm sitting at my favorite corner table at Bloom Coffee, watching the weekday hustle unfold through the window. There's something about Mondays that always feels like turning to a fresh page in my sketchbook – slightly intimidating but full of possibility.

Yesterday's brunch with Jen turned into one of those conversations that stays with you. You know the kind – where you start with mimosas and small talk but somehow end up dissecting your entire existence by dessert? Yeah, that.

We were talking about relationships (because what else do you talk about over avocado toast?), and I had this moment of clarity that's been buzzing around my head ever since. I realized how much of my evolution has been shaped by the people around me – not in a "losing myself" way, but in this beautiful collaborative design process.

Like how my fashion aesthetic subtly shifted after dating Marcus last year – not because he criticized my style, but because his photographer's eye made me more conscious of silhouettes and light. Or how Jen's unapologetic authenticity has given me permission to be more honest in my own work.

It's weird to admit this as someone who prides herself on independence, but we don't evolve in isolation. Even my most "personal" growth moments have fingerprints of others all over them.

Professor Winters mentioned something in class last week about how fashion is never created in a vacuum – it's always in conversation with the world around it. Maybe our personal evolution works the same way? We're constantly in dialogue with the people who matter to us, each interaction leaving tiny alterations in our design.

I'm starting to see that maturity isn't about becoming some perfectly self-sufficient island of a person. It's about recognizing these beautiful interconnections – how I'm both uniquely myself AND a collection of everyone who's mattered to me.

So here's my Monday morning revelation: maybe the most authentic version of myself isn't found by looking inward alone, but by acknowledging how relationships have hemmed and structured who I'm becoming.

Now I'm off to my design studio with this new awareness – seeing my evolution not as a solo project, but as this collaborative masterpiece that's still very much in progress.