During the week of May 20th, I told myself that I was going to stop wearing a bra in order to see what it was like. I know a lot of my friends have no problem leaving the house without a bra on and after going to Hangout Fest, it seemed like a pretty common thing.
Since bras tend to be uncomfortable and annoying anyway, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what all the hype was about. It's safe to say that my boobs aren't small, given that I wear a 34C or 34D and my friends often point out that fact every day.
Ever since I started wearing bras, I always felt like I had to have one on and not wearing one often made me feel weird. I used to wear one to sleep but I eventually grew out of that. My dad would often say I was weird for not taking my bra off before bed but that's what felt natural to me. Now, I can't stand wearing a bra to bed. Gotta let the puppies breathe from time to time.
There are minimal occasions where I will leave the house completely content not wearing a bra, such as when it's late at night and I'm already in PJs or if I'm just leaving the house to go to the store. But the point of this braless "week" was to go out of my comfort zone and experience my everyday schedule with a new perspective.
So, I didn't really pick my outfits to fit my comfortability, I just chose outfits that I wanted to wear for the day. Ultimately, it probably would've worked better if I eased into it rather than diving right in but if I was going to do it, I wanted to go all out.
Day one was easy because I spent the day driving from Alabama to Tallahassee. I wore a baggy t-shirt and the only time anyone saw me was when we stopped at Target for coffee. But that's a pretty normal outfit for me to wear to Target during a regular week. I don't mind wearing baggy shirts without a bra because the bagginess hides everything.
Day two was a little harder because I had to go to work where I wear a zip-up, long sleeve, black collared shirt, and a tie. At first, it felt wildly uncomfortable because I was in my place of work around coworkers and superiors that I see every day. Given the fact that I was in black and long sleeves made it easier to bear. Since the job requires me to move around constantly, I eventually forgot that I wasn't even wearing a bra. I didn't mind or care about it. Overall, it felt very freeing.
After work, I wanted to test the bounds so I changed into a nice, baggy tank top. I went to Madison Social and spent some time on the FSU campus participating in economic studies. I felt very odd but I was determined to maintain my streak of bralessness. I kept noticing my boobs and it seemed like since I noticed, other people noticed as well. I didn't like feeling exposed so when day three came around, it was hard to continue.
I started day three off strong by wearing a camisole with a thin blouse. I didn't feel comfortable enough to just wear the blouse because it was my first day working in a lab and I felt like I had to look more professional and that meant covering my boobs. The cami definitely helped. After that, I had court where I planned to wear a dress. I felt entirely too uncomfortable to not wear a bra so that ended my braless week.
It was an interesting notion to try but definitely not for me. Although bras aren't always comfy, they provide the support I need and make me more comfortable in my day to day life.