3 years of Law Balls; Incredible Growth, Glam and Connections

G’day friends and welcome to another week and another blog post.

This year marked my 5th year of Uni and my 3rd Uni Law Ball!

Full of Glam, speeches and amazing music, and not to mention networking, the Law Ball is the perfect way to celebrate the end of a Uni year.

However, what I have gained from each ball and the dresses I wore each year, tell a very striking story that I feel is incredibly eye opening to say the least.

Law Ball 2020

Dressed up for the 2020 Law ball. I am in a hot pink a-line floor length dress with rhinestones on the top. I am wearing my 2016 formal dress. My hear is curled around my face and I am holding a silver clutch with the other hand on my hip.

lets just say 2020 is a year a lot of us want to forget for many reasons.

However, this year was the start of my Law Ball attendance! I had only 48 hours notice as I originally wasn’t going but was gifted a ticket last minute! Which I am so grateful for!

I had no time to go shopping let alone organise to get my hair done.

So out came the 2016 year 12 formal dress and the box of curlers. I was so grateful for 2016 me who chose a dress with a corset back so it would fit me no matter what!

In terms of how I was feeling at the time mentally and emotionally, 2020 was a particularly vulnerable time for me and was not feeling the best, so I was super anxious, reserved and self conscious when I turned up to the Ball. I was lucky enough to have been sat next to one of my friends, and I must admit I enjoyed feeling like an adult with a glass of champagne and seeing everyone dressed to the nines.

Although I must say it was certainly an interesting experience to try and drive a mobility scooter while wearing a poofy dress!

Nonetheles,s it felt nice to just let loose after a hectic year.

2021

My 2021 Law ball look. I am in a bright Lime/ Yellow knee length a line dress with a frilly top. I have a matching colour bag in one hand and the other hand on my hip. My hair is pulled up in a elegant bun and am smiling for the camera

2021 had a lot of growth attached to it for me! It was when I started to really figure out who I was, and started to get out into the world again.

I learnt a lot of life lessons and started to feel more confident in my own skin. I signed up for riding lessons and animal assisted learning sessions. But more on that later. And lets not forget the insane training to do a 5km!

Safe to say my new found confidence came through in my dress choice that year. I never in a million years thought I would feel confident in a bright dress! Usually I try and blend in because my scooter draws enough attention.

When shopping for this look, I said to my mum that I didn’t want anything loud or Big Bird yellow…. an hour or two later I walked out of the shops with a Big Bird yellow loud dress!!

Safe to say, I immediately fell in love when I tried on this bright dress. Add on my first spray tan and get my hair done; I felt like I was starting to turn a new page!

However, I wore heels that were slightly too tall which usually isn’t an issue. But my strength wasn’t the best that day and I paid the price in barely being able to walk, and my knee constantly buckling.

At that point in time, I still felt immense pressure (mostly self-inflicted) to match what all the other people were going to wear in terms of heels. So clearly I wore the heels I did because I still had a bit of work to do in being confident in wearing what is comfortable for me instead of what is the ‘norm’ and trying to be like everyone else. Which I highly do not recommend… Nor do my feet!

2022

My 2022 law ball look. I am wearing a straight rose gold sequin one shoulder dress with a slit on the side of the dress. I have a matching rose gold bag and my hair is in a pony tale.

This year was a turning point for me massively.

There was plenty going on personally at the start of the year, and add on over commitment when it came to everything with my degree, my role as VP External for the Uni law Society, dating troubles, falling off horses, it made for a super interesting year.

However I started to learn a lot about how I deal with my emotions and how that was impacting my work with horses. Through that, I turned a page in how I viewed myself, my situation, and the events that shaped me as a child and even from the last 2 years.

I felt I was ready to move on so to speak and a new woman emerged who was full of confidence and was ready to do her own thing in terms of style and what she stood for.

And so the body hugging rose gold dress arrived! I always wanted to wear something like that, but in the past I didn’t think I could pull it off. Until now!

I have struggled feeling still like a child in many ways which has impacted me in more ways than one. However the amount of growth this year lead me to buy a dress I would never have considered and feel incredible.

This Law Ball I felt like a grown woman, sexy, confident, and unapologetic in who she is.

I absolutely loved how the dress made me feel, but perhaps the biggest thing was the fact I wore shoes I was comfortable in, and when they became too much I didn’t bat an eye to ask my date (my awesome parents) to take them off for me.

Yes. I walked out to the car bare foot without a care in the world!

Now that in itself is major! Because I felt confident enough to do that and have everyone see that I was struggling.

In the past I tried to hide the struggle and refused the ask for help out of embarrassment.

But this year helped me accept that part of my disability I had struggled with forever. And that is major.

All In all

a photo of all three looks next to each other starting from the 2020 look on the left, 2021 in the middle and 2022 on the right.

I guess out of all of this what I am trying to say, is that each year had growth in different ways. But once you can truly accept who you are, you start to dress differently in a way that truly is you and speaks to you!

Being unapologetic in who you are is perhaps the most important thing out of everything.

You don’t need to get all glammed up for that, just simply really being honest with yourself and finding a way to confront the things about yourself you have buried goes a long way!

I am proud of who I am, and the life that I am living. I wouldn’t change it for the world!

I hope you all have a magical Christmas if you celebrate, or even just an incredible Holiday Season!

Merry Christmas.

Rhi

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