Salubrity Business

Per the Kentucky Counseling Center, the connection between looking good and feeling good is “a two-way street, ” suggesting that when you wear an outfit that inspires self-confidence, you will then emanate a “natural beauty” and that when you feel beautiful your confidence will shine through (2021). Thus, looking good and feeling good go hand in hand (Kentucky Counseling Center, 2021). Furthermore, professional stylist, Stasia Savasuk, suggests that when you dress up to feel good, you not only improve your quality of life, but quite possibly extend it (2019)!

Clothes not only matter, but they convey a story or narrative about our life and how we think about ourselves (Savasuk, 2019). Beyond confidence, clothing can express joy and even love (Quirk, 2012). What we wear is answering the question “how do I want to show up in the world?” (Savasuck, 2019).

Author and expert seamstress, Jessica Quirk, believes that one should “prepare” for what they wear, in the same way an athlete would buy the right gear to run a marathon or how a chef might sharpen their knives before the start of a dinner rush (2012). This type of preparation helps to positively change the way we think about ourselves, sparking confidence and boosting our self-esteem (2012).

When deciding how to show up, we do not have to run from the negative thoughts we may have about how we look (Bornstein, 2023). We can acknowledge those stories while still determining we are going to show up in clothes that make us feel good (Bornstein, 2023). The cynical stories we tell ourselves may try to limit what we think we are allowed to wear or what will look good on us. Over time the confidence we gain from wearing what we “know” looks good on us and makes us feel confident will hopefully push us towards trying the things that we have told ourselves are not for us.

Some simple (and not so simple) steps that we can take to help ourselves feel good and look good include, breathing exercises before starting your day, getting your hair done, painting your nails, cleaning up your closet, napping, wearing comfortable clothes and buying something pretty (Avila, 2024; Bornstein, 2023; Kentucky Counseling Center, 2021). While these steps may seem inadequate, unrelated or even silly, they remind us that taking care of ourselves is essential to our everyday well-being.

A few things I do to prepare for looking good and feeling good are: not caring what size the clothes are that I buy as long as they fit well, getting my hair done monthly to cover my grays and painting my nails every Sunday with quick dry polish. Let me know what you are doing to prepare to look good and feel good in the comments!

References:

Avila, Lianne. (2024) To feel better about your life, make these 25 small changes. www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/to-feel-better-about-your-life-make-these-25-small-changes/ar-BB1jh4a4

Bornstein, Alison (2023). Wear it well: reclaim your closet and rediscover the joy of getting dressed. Chronicle Prism.

Kentucky Counseling Center. (2021). How looking good makes you feel good. kentuckycounselingcenter.com/how-looking-good-makes-you-feel-good/

Quirk, Jessica. (2012). Look good, feel good – the case for playing dress up. TedxBloomington. www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6UHT-b6oRg&t=17s

Savasuk, Stasia. (2019). Dressing for confidence and joy. Tedx Talks. www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5n3V0VYGNg

Stasia Savasuk