Do you ever realize how much time you spend picking out an outfit for the day? 

Or how much time we spend in our entire lifetime deciding on an outfit for the day or an event, picking out clothes in a dressing room, making those many micro-decisions on if this top is my style, does it look good on me, is it trendy, will I fit in, is it comfortable?

Our style, our outfits, that we carefully select are a huge part of our lives. Fashion is a part of who we are. It is a part of our identity, a part of our culture, a part of our purpose in life.

Fashion really does play a huge role in our lives. 

From the importance of our style to how much time we spend in our lives making decisions, creating ensembles, and building a place for clothes in our lives, something that has such a strong value in our lives, something we spend so much of our time with, should be something that brings us happiness.

For us girls, clothes are a very love-hate relationship. They can either make us feel really good or really bad. They help us create our identity, but they can also strip it away. They can make us feel a part of a community and they can also make us feel isolated. They can make us feel confident and on top of the world and they can make us feel such strong hate towards ourselves.

Clothes can have a huge effect on us and not always in a good way…

If we let it.

That’s right, we are in control of how a piece of clothing, how an outfit, effects us. We either let ourselves feel good or we let ourselves fall into the dangerous trap of body shaming.

We know that feeling. The feeling of going into a dressing room and trying on a pair of jeans that were the same size you bought last time, but you can’t even button now or putting on a top that shows your arms maybe even a little bra bulge and before you know it your thoughts are just firing off…you hate yourself, you hate your body, you begin comparing yourself to others, wishing you looked like the girl you see on Instagram in a cute outfit traveling the world with everything you want within her reach. You think about how if you lost weight or if you were rich and could get surgery or if you could just change this one thing, you would be happy.

We all do it. We are all guilty of it. But do we ever ask ourselves what can we do about it? 

(First, we’d like to say that if you are truly struggling with body shaming and learning to love yourself we’d highly recommend you read our Loving Yourself Blog Series.)

Transforming your mind and the way you view yourself are vital and should come first in your journey to changing your relationship with the clothes you wear. 

Once you’ve begun your journey to loving yourself more, the next step in finding peace in the clothes you own is beginning your journey to dressing for your happiness and on the blog today we are sharing our Five Tips to help you uncover how you can start Dressing for Your Happiness.

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Clash It, Clash It Real Good. 

First, with every new transformation, you have to break free from the old chains you hold yourself to. It’s time to rebel against all the rules you’ve set for yourself, when it comes to fashion, because of what society or friends or family told you. 

This is a time for you to play, explore, get wild. Allow yourself to have fun with this part, really soaking in and enjoying the freedom that will lead you to your individuality. 

Start by clashing patterns and wear things that don’t match. Completely mix it up. If you think to yourself no one should ever wear that, WEAR IT. You need to see and experience this for yourself and see what happens when you really just wear something for the heck of it. One to experience the freedom or wearing something for you because you want to it, but also to see that you will be okay regardless of what people think or tell you what you should and should not wear. 

Find inspiration from things you wore as a little girl. “Three tops, a dress, and two sweaters? I couldn’t decide. WHY. THE. HELL. NOT.” 

Learn to embrace being quirky and silly, the awkward phases, and all the in-betweens that lead you to discover your own beautifully unique style that is all your own.

Wear Those Fav’s All Day ‘Er Day.

As you explore and play with #alltheclothes you will soon find yourself having favorites. A favorite top or a favorite dress or two, you will start to gravitate towards specific pieces of clothes. Whether they fit you well, make you feel confident, or get you a lot of compliments, certain clothes will just be those few pieces that just have the whole package, that just make you happy when you wear them. 

These gold gems are your besties. And now that you are a complete rule breaker, it’s time to follow your heart. So often we just don’t repeat outfits, it’s a big no no, right?

Wrong. Wear your favorites. Wear them all the time. Wear them all day ‘er day. Get familiar with your favorites, why are they your favorites, what about them make you feel so good, make you so happy?

Because THAT you want more of. 

We love this quote by Kelly Rae Roberts in her efforts to dress for joy daily. “Have you ever wondered why you’re drawn to certain things, and not others? This couch, not that one? This sweater, not that one? I have a theory. Everything we find “beautiful” is actually a quiet whisper … calling us closer towards the life that is waiting for us. That’s why surrounding yourself with beauty is never “shallow” or “superficial.” Quite the opposite >Whenever you make or are drawn to something beautiful, you are directly responding to the call of your heart.”

Learning to know what that good feeling of wearing something that makes you happy feels like, helps you to know what to keep working towards and what you are striving for. SO, re-wear your fav’s ’til you discover why they’re your favorites, what makes a piece your ride or die,  then branch out to build your style and continue wearing what makes you feel good over and over again.

Show.Up.For.Yourself.

For us girls, it is so easy to choose comfort over “style.” We are definitely guilty of grabbing the black leggings, a big oversized tee, and throwing our hair in giant messy buns for as many days in a row as we can. 

If you’re lucky, you’ll find clothes you love that are comfortable and cute. (Our boutique, and our mission for our boutique, is all about providing the everyday girl with the casual-cute clothes that give you that effortlessly beautiful feeling, you can check out more about our boutique at The Mint Sweater Boutique.) 

We are not saying to only wear cute clothes that aren’t comfortable, but this is the part of the journey where you have to take a step back, pause for a moment, and ask yourself every day when picking out your outfit.. what am I dressing for? Who am I dressing for? Why am I choosing this outfit today?

These questions are a reminder that your outfit is supposed to bring you joy, you are dressing for YOU and YOUR happiness. 

So as you take a moment to pick out your outfit of the day, think about the intention you are making with these clothes. Are you going to choose the black leggings and an oversized tee or are you going to show up for yourself? 

Dress as the person you want to be.

Natalie Freeman of Natalie Creates said when explaining why she realized she needed to put down the leggings and start showing up for herself… 

“[I wore] floral PJ pants & yoga pants with a stained t-shirt all day, every day. This didn’t reflect who I was as an individual. I wasn’t that girl who rarely showered & wearing the same dirty outfit with her [hair] in a bun. I knew I loved myself more than that.”

Picking out an outfit for the day is a choice that can set the tone for your day. If you choose to wear clothes that make you feel good, that bring you joy, and that makes you feel amazing and radiant inside and out…you are already starting your day off on a positive note, you are showing up for yourself, and dressing for the girl you know you are.

Your choice of an outfit for the day is a step you can take in showing yourself that you are worthy of love, worthy of being taken care of, worthy of dressing up for. 

THIS IS ME.

Being intentional about the clothes you are choosing to wear for the day is empowering for yourself to show up for YOU, but it can also be a powerful statement to the world.

A declaration to the world that says who you are, shows your unique style and personality, your individuality, and your strength to show up as your beautiful self. 

A declaration that says, This is me. 

Think about what you wear and what you choose to dress yourself up in, what clothes make you feel undeniably yourself, that truly represents everything about you and what makes you uniquely yourself. 

They are your statement for the day, so what is that statement going to be?

What is your outfit telling the world about you? Letting people know a bit about who you are as a person, giving them a peek inside your heart. 

Let your clothes be a representation of who you are and what your place in this world is. Let them speak for you and declare your message into the world.

Let your style be a way for the world to see you, hear you, be impacted by you. 

Beauty Comes From Within. 

Finally, our last tip to start dressing yourself in happiness is realizing that what matters in what you wear all along is you.

Girl, it’s time to start wearing what makes you look in the mirror and smile.

It’s time to start wearing what makes you look at your reflection and love what you see looking back at you.

And it’s time to start wearing what makes you feel good on the inside that it makes your day, HECK even your life, feel better. 

All the tips help you to start looking at the clothes and the choices you make differently, but each consideration, step, and decision should be made from how you feel inside.

Put on a top or a dress you hate and see how you feel. How does your body react? Then put on something you love. Do you feel a difference? Do you notice how you feel when you feel good?

Start being intentional about how you dress, with the intention being that you want to wear what makes you feel happy in heart, in the depth of your gut, in the tingles that run through your whole body. Wear what fills you up with love and positivity.

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Transforming the way you wear clothes, the intention you place when creating an outfit or style, from a place of trying to impress others, keep up with trends, or wearing whatever you can throw together that day into dressing yourself in what makes you feel good inside, what makes you smile, what makes you genuinely happy will give you a fresh new perspective on the relationship you have with your clothes.

This transformation will take you from a place where clothes are stressful, making you suffer from body shaming and even a state of just not caring anymore and give you something that you were once mindlessly living life through and change it into a lifetime of adding joy daily into your life. 

You will find that once you make this change, learning to find joy in the clothes you wear, will help you to add more joy into your life every day and even more add to your overall happiness in life. Sometimes you just have to start with the intention to turn the ordinary, even the things that make you unhappy, into a journey to figure out a way to change them into bringing you happiness…one by one you can then add happiness into your overall wellbeing. 

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Finally, we just wanted to add that dressing in your happiness daily has become a well-known trend amongst bloggers and everyday women who are trying to love themselves and the clothes they wear. Here are some more links and resources for you to continue your journey that we’ve have loved and been inspired by.

Kelly Rae Roberts: Wear Your Joy Project.

Natalie Freeman of Natalie Creates: DressingInYourHappinessDaily