Have you ever had one of those random bursts of energy at 3 A.M. that made you want to get your life together right then and there? I had one of those while re-watching the iconic 1995 film, “Clueless” a few weeks back. It was actually during a virtual HerCampus at Virginia Tech event where we watched the movie over Zoom! I first saw the movie back when Iggy Azalea came out with her Clueless-inspired music video for her song “Fancy,” but never really picked Cher up as an inspiration until now.
For those who haven’t seen the movie, Cher Horowitz is a high school student who, along with her best friend Dionne Davenport, befriends Tai Frasier—the new girl— and gives her a makeover. All throughout the movie, we see Cher always looking perfect and living up to the standards she has set for herself. Cher also teaches Tai the importance of working out and loving your body, and how to always keep your brain active by reading one book a week about whatever you are interested in. This reminded me of the stack of five books I’ve had sitting on my desk since the beginning of the semester that I hadn’t touched since I moved back into my dorm. Since then, I have read one book. Not much, I know, but sometimes YouTube and HBO just win the battle.
Cher is always put together, which made me remember how much I used to love dressing up for school every day. Of course, now that I’m in college, you couldn’t get me to wear jeans even if you paid me. I will always prefer leggings, but you can’t go wrong with dressing nice and feeling cute. After all, you never know who you are going to run into while you’re out. With the temperatures increasing, my happiness has too. I’ve reorganized my desk and closet to make me feel more organized since my junk drawer is now non-existent. Of course with the extra space in my closet, I went on an online shopping spree. I’ve updated my planner and Google Calendar, gotten back into my rhythm of daily to-do lists, and even updated my Amazon shopping lists. Seeing Cher have her life together made me miss when I had mine together too. Yes, I did fall out of my organization habits for a bit, but now I’m back to what I consider my normal.
Organizing makes me very happy, so doing all of these things is quite exciting for me. If you ask any of my friends, they can tell you how many events I have plans for and the number of things I plan ahead for as soon as I find out about them. Doing all of these things for yourself is important, and of course, I do it for myself as well because it makes me feel good, but sometimes people do need others to look up to for motivation and accountability. When I think of Cher and the steps she takes, it makes me feel like her and it makes me happy because she just has it together, so if I feel like her, it’s like I have it all together.
Looking up to a movie character where all you get is 90 minutes of their life can sound a bit odd to some, but to others, it can be motivation. I dress nice like Veronica Lodge, I make calendars and to-do lists to stay on top of things like Jane Villanueva, I color coordinate like Amy Santiago, and I push myself to work hard for my future and my family like my mom. As a young woman, it’s important to have other women to look towards, real and fictional, to realize the future I can create for myself if I work hard and take care of myself as I continue to grow. For myself, and for the women I look up to, I do all of these things.