Wardrobe · 5 min
Dress forthe day you want
Before you dress, decide how you want today to feel, and choose one thing that says so.
On a hard week it is easy to dress for the day you are dreading: whatever is clean, whatever will not show the mess. This practice turns it around. Before you open the wardrobe, decide how you would like the day to feel, and dress a little for that.
The steps
Four small steps,in your own time.
Before you get dressed, take one breath and choose one word for how you would like today to feel: calm, bright, capable, soft, ready.
Open the wardrobe and find one thing that matches the word: a colour, a shirt with a good collar, soft trousers, the shoes you walk well in.
Build the rest around it from whatever is clean and comfortable. One thing is enough.
Before you leave the room, look in the mirror for a moment and say the word to yourself.
The reason
Why it helps
What we wear changes how we carry ourselves, and how we carry ourselves changes how a day goes, a little. Choosing on purpose, even for a day at home or in a waiting room, is a small act of hope that costs nothing. It also gives you one thing in the day that you decided, rather than one more thing that happened to you.
A gentle variation
If you cannot face choosing, let comfort be the word. Soft, warm and easy is a good day to dress for too.
WE · TRIBE
Try itwith someone.
Tell someone your word in the morning, and ask for theirs. At the end of the day, ask each other whether the day lived up to it, even a little.
Try it today
Tomorrow, before you dress, choose one word for how you want the day to feel, and wear one thing that matches it.
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