Wondering what will your post-COVID fashion & business style look like?
I’m starting to think that things will be going to stay kind of how they are for some time. I don’t really see COVID going away, at least it’s not happening here in the United States. If you are from outside of the United States, things may be different where you’re at. So with that being said, I wanted to share with you this little experiment that I’ve been doing on my own. I wanted to share my results with you because I have some predictions on how things are going to be moving forward, or evolving when it comes to not just our style and fashion, but to our lifestyle in general and even how we go about our day-to-day.
I also want to talk about some things to help us get out of a funk. Now, my optimistic real self can snap out of it pretty quickly but, I’m still human, we still all get into the funk. And we have been going now for almost nine months of our lives just completely turned upside down and not to mention how it impacted us in so many ways.
Some of us had lost our jobs, some of us had lost people that we love. Some of us had found new jobs, some of us had kids still doing school from home. We are spending more time with our kids which honestly, I am blessed and grateful to have that opportunity. Sometimes it’s better when you say things out loud. Because as women we try to be so strong and hold it all together for our family, for our children,
I honestly don’t think they will ever go back to how they used to be but here’s what I can tell you that I have tried out, and figured out for myself, and just new possibilities to life in general.
Cooking
Who has picked up some new recipes? We picked up some new recipes here and there because we have more time to think about it and really to get inspired.
Movement
How about moving your body? I know for me personally, before all of these hits, before COVID, I was constantly on the go between my social media marketing agency, my image consulting, representing a jewelry line, and then the kids going to two different schools at two different times. I was constantly in and out of the car. Most of us are constantly on the go, but what happened now during Covid?
Have you taken the opportunity to be on the move still? Because for me moving my body isn’t so much about losing weight. Sure, I want to maintain a certain weight, I like to feel toned, but a lot of it is for my mental health. It just makes me feel better.
Outdoor Activity
The next thing is to soak up some sun. A new tradition that we started here at home is going to watch the sunrise. Sunrise is one of the most magical scenes that you can experience in the day. It really just sets the tone for how the rest of the day is going to go.
That is a new tradition that we’ve been doing, we’ve been soaking up the sunrise as well as the sunshine whenever we can by just being outdoors more.
Hobbies
Think about picking up some hobbies. I do love fishing, but I would never consider it a hobby and now it’s something that we do quite often on the weekends, and I think I can say that is kind of my hobby. It’s therapeutic for me. So pick up an extra hobby.
Limiting the News
Something else that we have been doing is limiting our news intake. Being consumed by the same thing over and over again makes us anxious, scared, and even paranoid.
Declutter
Another thing that I took advantage of that helps actually with self-care and mental health is decluttering. We did a closet cleanout challenge in another group through Style Rebel Mama. Once you’re done with the closet cleanout, it just makes you feel so good, and anything that makes you feel so good is part of self-care.
Find out how to serve others
I had been mentoring female entrepreneurs with their own businesses. Now, as an agency we handle that with “done-for-you” services as a whole because I have a team that helps out with that. But one-on-one I was just kind of doing it randomly, nothing organized, or formal. I started to do this now through the pandemic, because there are so many more women now that are working from homes, starting their own “side hustle” if you want to call it that, but this “side hustle” has now become permanent hustles.
So part of my self-care process throughout these nine months is focusing on how I could serve others, and I have been so blessed, and I’m so grateful to now be working with a whole group of women through a group mentorship program, the “Splash Marketing Collective” and we’re not just talking about social media marketing.
We’re talking about communicating with others, we’re talking about how to serve others, how to be more authentic, how to be genuine, how to use our passions, and our values to make an impact on other people’s lives.
Set up a Routine
And then the last thing that I want to talk to you about is a routine.
The number one thing that I advocate for is to always get dressed in the morning. Whether the first thing that you do is get up or go for a walk, a run, or do you work out or whatever that may be. So I tested this out and I’ve proven it to myself.
I experimented by getting out of my routine and doing it the other way, just sticking to my PJ’s for the day, and then there were some other times that I just did the leggings with a long T-shirt or even workout clothes.
My tone was quieter, I was calmer, but I wasn’t enjoying my day as much. But if you are somebody that is still in your leisure clothes most of the time during the day, I love to see what happens when you change that. Put on some denim jeans, put on a cute top, add some fun earrings, and a bold lipstick or lip gloss.
I promise you that you will feel much better if you are in a funk.
The effects of clothing on your mental health
Dr. Adam Galinsky and his team at Columbia Business School have been studying the effects of clothing on the wearer’s mental state for nearly a decade. We might feel like we wear clothes to simply cover our bodies, but when you think about it, what we put on every day has a huge effect on how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us as well. It’s no wonder that some people spend hours agonizing over what they’ll wear in front of their friends or colleagues.
An article published by The New York Times talks about Dr. Galinsky’s research into “enclothed cognition” – which is essentially the study of how clothing affects not just your mood, but also your personality traits
No matter what happens in the outside world, the power of getting dressed and what you put on will not change at all.
Here are some things to keep in mind, if you typically would work out of home, and for you to feel powerful and confident, is to wear a blazer. If you wear a blazer at home, you’re going to be stiff, you’re going to be uncomfortable. So just substitute it with a kimono.
So just substitute the things that make you powerful and confident. Substitute your wardrobe and I think that moving forward, we’re not so much going to have a casual wardrobe, and an office wardrobe, and a night-out wardrobe. We’re really going to have one basic wardrobe that we enhance with little things — like kimonos and jewelry. Putting on a pair of statement earrings even if you’re not going to see anybody makes such a difference in how you feel.
So that’s part of a self-care process, it’s caring for yourself, doing things that make you feel good, that inspire you, and in the end, also inspires others, and serving others.
Take the leap of faith
If you have something that you are super passionate about and you haven’t yet taken that extra leap, that leap of faith, that extra step to make it happen now is your time! Now more than ever, you have the opportunity to really make an impact on other people’s lives with what you’re passionate about. So I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, get out of that funk if you’re in one, and move forward with something that you are passionate about and make a true business out of it.
So do things that make you feel good, continue to do things that make you feel good, if you are not feeling good, make some changes and that could be with your routine, with your self-care, with your business, with your job, I can’t impress so much more on you how right now is such a great opportunity to really do things that will serve others and at the same time, do things that you are passionate about.
So now is the opportunity to do it, now is the time when people are paying attention, when they need people when they want to connect more with human beings, because of all the madness surrounding us.
It is such a great time to step out of our comfort zone and do things that we’re passionate about, continue to do things that make us feel good, and help others.
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