How to Use your Personal Style as Self Care
Over the past couple of years, the topic of self care has grown immensely. A lot of people are learning to prioritize themselves and their needs which in turn, helps them to be a better functioning person in this society.
I’m all here for it and have even found my own ways to practice self care but did you know there are 7 categories of self care. 7 different ways you can pour into yourself?
Let’s talk about them and how each can work with you personal style too.
7 Categories of Self Care
And Your Personal Style
Professional Self Care
This form, I honestly didn’t even know existed but if you have any type of career and are in the workforce, it makes total sense. Your professional self care is anything you do to feel balanced and fulfilled within your career or work life. In typical form, this would look like setting boundaries with your boss and coworkers, taking mental health days, setting reminders to take breaks and lunches or reassessing if your current career is still what you want to pursue. Boop.
Self Care w/ Your Style:
1. Dress the part.
If there’s a job or position you really want, show up in your everyday life like you already have it; dress as if you already have it. Not only will this do wonders for your mental and how you carry yourself but it also puts out positive and affirming energy to attain that desired position while boosting your confidence to go get it.
That energy is what inspired the outfit and shoot featured for this post. My shirt is the Black Growth Matters tee from a collaboration between one of my best friends and one of her favorite brands, @domdivadoesit x Cakeworthy. She did the art graphic on it. An accomplishment that I am so proud of her for and something I’m professionally working towards myself. (She also low key inspired another post called: 11 Ways to Stop Being Jealous of Your Friends Success.)
Anyway, Same with these green satin pants that came from a collab with Signed Blake and Amazon The Drop. Both of these phenomenal black women put in the work, showing up as themselves, sharing their creativity and their stories, and it paid off with their own collections. That’s what I’m on.
2. Boss up.
Much like dressing the part but this one is for specific occurrences. Are you doing a huge presentation in the office? Are you meeting with some high profile clients? Are you attending a potentially game changing meeting? Not only should you dress the part but you should own the moment as well. Wear whatever it takes for you to internally feel like you are the one and that nobody can touch you and your greatness.
Emotional Self Care
Emotional self care is what we do to become aware of and regulate our own emotions. You learn how to control your emotions to an extent instead of letting them govern you. For me, there is a great power and value here; when you’re able to detect how you feel and why you feel it and then have the strategies to work through them to return to a calmer, clearer and happier space.
Your typical forms of emotional care would look something like journaling, doing a random dancing session or taking a moment to get some outside air.
Self Care w/ Your Style:
1. Wear comforting clothes.
For me, it’s a hoodie or sweatpants that offer me comfort. Note, this isn’t about being comfortable, it’s about feeling comforted. Any items of clothes that make you feel secure or relaxed in times of anxiety or stress is what we’re looking for here.
2. Wear clothes that bring joy.
This idea has a powerful range. You can keep it simple, by wearing bright colored clothing, like yellows and oranges that psychologically represent happiness or you can wear clothes that feature things that you whole heartedly enjoy, ie. your favorite hobby. If you’re into music, art or a specific television show, you can wear product merch from it. You can use your hobby or interest in you personal style to raise your spirits.
Physical Self Care
This category focuses on making your body feel good. Physical self care consists of activities that positively affect your physical health and well being. In typical form and fashion, physical self care would look like exercising, taking a nap, eating a healthy snack or treating yourself to a spa day.
Self Care w/ Your Style:
1. Take care of your birthday suit.
The only thing you can’t take off and fold away is your skin. It will always be your base no matter what you throw on so taking care of it only benefits you. The bare minimum would be to wash your skin and apply lotion but at the quality at which you do this, can differ. I love slowly applying lotion to my skin while listening to some soft and soulful R&B. It makes me feel so luxurious. You can also up the quantity and quality of your products by incorporating exfoliators, butters and oils.
2. Workout clothes.
One thing you should do when personalizing your style is to review your lifestyle and if there are any specific items you will need to support these different areas in your life. If you regularly workout, having specific clothes to workout in is ideal. Even if you’re new to working out, having workout clothes that make you feel confident or bring you joy is a positive addition to your physical efforts.
Spiritual Self Care
This is one I’ve been trying to work on lately. Spiritual Self Care doesn’t have to be religious, though for me, it is. It partly is. Spiritual self care deals with how you connect and nurture your soul, or inner being. It’s that feeling of you being fulfilled and whole. The activities that make you feel good, rich and hopeful.
Self Care w/ Your Style:
1. Donate what you don’t wear.
If your closet is jam packed or you’re looking to create a more cohesive story with your style, it’s a good idea to purge everything that doesn’t fit into your vision...or your body for that matter. Take the clothes and shoes you don’t want and donate them. Donate them to a woman’s shelter or a support organization and help impact the daily life of another person, positively.
2. Purchase from brands who support your values.
In today’s age, a brand can’t get too far by just making cute clothes. They need to stand for something. Whether you support social justice and enrichment of children or oppose global warming and human trafficking, there’s more than likely a brand who matches those same values. A brand who might even be donating part of their profits to support the cause.
Social Self Care
Also one I wasn’t aware of prior to the 2020 quarantine. This experience made me realize how valuable interaction with other people actually is, even for an introvert like myself. Social Self Care is when you take actions that nurture your relationships with others. In the average sense, that would be going out for brunch, going on dates with your S.O., daily phone calls to your mom and playing with your pets.
Self Care w/ Your Style:
1. Prep for brunch.
I know we can’t go out now but that’s no reason why you can’t prepare in advance for when the gates open up. When you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. Take a little advantage of your quarantine savings and stock up on outfits for brunch, happy hour, weddings and special occasions. Shop responsibly though.
2. Style haul.
We both know you swiped the card a few times in these here quarantine streets, so whether it’s just you and your boo, you and a friend or you and a couple hundred subs on YouTube, how about you show off your purchases. For now, it’s probably the best way for others to see you wearing your new outfits.
Practical Self Care
Also a form of self care that’s slept on, practical self care are actions that you take to reduce stress and anxiety in your day to day. Correction: any healthy action you take to reduce stress and anxiety in your day to day. This would usually be you organizing a junk drawer, managing your budget, meal prepping or creating a routine. So basically, adulting. …Can I say that at 30?…I mean…I’ve been adulting for a decade now and have learned many a lessons…
Self Care w/ Your Style:
1. De clutter your closet.
Did you guess that one? If your closet is overflowing and/or you find that you’re not already using every item to its full potential, it’s time to purge the excess. Take a day to go through your closet and divide everything into keep, donate or trash piles…and then do that action. Don’t just put everything back in the closet.
2. Visit your local cleaners & tailors.
You know that one thing with the stain that’s been hanging in the back of your closet for almost a year now or that denim jacket that you love but it doesn’t fit your body quite right? It’s time to get these issues rectified. Take that thing to the cleaners and get that jacket altered at the tailor’s. Both will give you senses of accomplishments even though the only physical labour you’ll be doing is driving to each location for drop offs and pick ups.
Mental Self Care
And we’re going to round out the list with mental self care which is where we focus on actions that stimulate our minds and increase our brain waves. I’m also going to include mindset work and shifts here. On a day to day setting, these actions can be listening to podcasts, learning a new hobby, reading a book or doing a puzzle.
Self Care w/ Your Style:
1. Create a cohesive closet.
This is a large scale puzzle for your personal style. If you’re looking to up-level or even just change up your personal style, doing this will be ideal. Once you’ve purged and donated as acts of spiritual and practical self care, you can create a list of items that you feel are missing from your wardrobe. You can buy them slowly and strategically, which I’d suggest, but you can also go in guns blazing and quickly fill in those missing areas. Whichever works best for you and your mental.
2. Re-purpose.
One thing I love about fashion is how versatile it can be. There are no rules to this and you can literally do what you want. One item doesn’t have to specifically be paired with another and you can switch it up as you see fit. Help your closet content last longer by successfully switching and swapping items in your routine outfits. Repeating is okay but trying something different is better. Sometimes. In this case, it is.