Listen to the Full Episode:

5 Style Habits That Elevated My LifeFrom Overwhelmed to Empowered: Transforming Your Style with Five Key Habits

Celebrating 400 episodes! In this special episode, Tonya reflects on her podcast journey, starting from her first nervous recording to reaching this significant milestone. She shares the importance of pushing past self-doubt and critical voices to keep going. A heartfelt thank you to listeners and her team for the support. 

Then, Tonya dives into ‘The Five Style Habits That Transformed My Life’.

Intentional style habits play a crucial role in enhancing personal style, saving time, money, and energy, while boosting confidence and authenticity. In a podcast episode, Tonya Leigh discusses five key style habits that have elevated her life, highlighting their positive impact on overall well-being.

    1. Intentional Shopping with a Style Vision: Developing a clear style vision helps individuals make intentional shopping decisions, reducing impulse purchases and ensuring every item aligns with their personal style.


    2. Daily Outfit Photos: Taking daily outfit photos and analyzing them with curiosity rather than criticism helps individuals understand what works for them.

       

    3. Quarterly Closet Edits: Regularly reviewing and organizing the closet allows individuals to assess their wardrobe, identify items that no longer serve them, and make room for new pieces that align with their style vision.

       

    4. Keeping Everything in Sight: Organizing the closet for maximum visibility helps individuals see and appreciate all their clothing items, reducing the feeling of having nothing to wear.

       

    5. Practicing Gratitude for the Wardrobe: Cultivating gratitude for the current wardrobe fosters a positive relationship with clothing, leading to contentment and authenticity. 

Tune in for an inspiring episode filled with gratitude, motivation, and style inspiration. 

Episode Details:

03:09 Style as form of self-care.

05:56 Relationship with clothing and style.

11:09 Style habits for elevated life.

13:15 Creating a style vision.

18:36 Elevating style with daily photos.

26:36 Quarterly Closet Edits

31:47 Creating a sense of abundance.

35:30 Gratitude in building a wardrobe.

42:17 Elevating personal style and confidence.

Episode Transcript:

What? 400 episodes. This may be the longest intro of one of my podcasts, but here's what happened. I finished recording this episode that you're about to listen to and I went to put it into the folder for my podcast team and I saw it was episode 400. And I had to take a moment. I often preach that we as women don't stop and celebrate enough how far we've come because we're always in it. We're always busy heading to the next thing, and I almost did that. Then I was like, "Wait, Tonya. 400 episodes. That's a big deal." And then I went back and looked and realized that my first episode was almost 10 years ago. August of 2014. I'm blown away. I think you get into the grind of doing stuff and you don't even realize how much you've done. But I just want to say thank you. Thank you all so much for tuning into this podcast every single week. Thank you to my team who helps me to pull it off. And I'm going to thank me.

I remember when I first started this podcast, I was so nervous you all. I read my blogs. Basically, if you go back and listen to my very first podcast, it's just me reading my blog post because I'd never done it. And anytime we do things that we've never done before, it's scary. It's out of our comfort zone. And our brains always chattering how it's not good enough and you don't know what you're doing. But I am here to tell you all if you keep going, if you refuse to let those voices stop you, you're going to look back on that first day of whatever it is that you decided to do and be so thankful that you didn't give in to the critical voices, even the critical voices of people out there. I've got negative reviews. I've heard it all, and I just tuned it out. And I thought about you all you. You that love this podcast. You that have benefited from it. And I'm just so grateful that I kept going even when it was hard, even when I was feeling overwhelmed, even when I thought I didn't have anything useful to say. I just kept showing up thinking about you all.

And so congratulations to all of us. Seriously, I'm just blown away. 400 episodes of this podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And now let's dive in where I'm going to be talking about the five style habits that have elevated my life.

Welcome to the School of Self-Image, where personal development meets style. Here's your hostess, master life coach, Tonya Leigh. 

Hello, friends. Do you know what's fun? Talking about style. I told y'all that this was going to be my summer of style, so you're going to be hearing a lot about it over the next couple of months. But when I talk about style, I typically have two camps of people. I have the women who are intrigued and excited and they love it as much as I do. And then I have another camp of people who think it's superficial, who think it's a waste of time, who think that women who love style or who care about style are somehow vain. And if you're in that camp, I get it, but I want to encourage you, I want to challenge you to think about style as a form of self-care.

When people tell me that they think style doesn't matter, one of the first thoughts that I have is to me that's like saying your home doesn't matter or art, music, design doesn't matter. It's all just energy that is expressed out into the world. And I do believe that the reason why some people say that is that they have equated style with expensive things. They've equated style with self-obsession. They've equated style with this vanity. And I want to argue that style isn't any of that. Of course, it's a tool and any tool can be used for good or for bad. But I want to talk about style as a tool that you use for your own care, for a way to feel better, to make your life better. I also think that one of the reasons why people may have this negative relationship with style ... And so they have concluded that they just don't care, it's not important, is because it has been so frustrating and overwhelming and confusing.

How many times have we stood in our closets that are packed feeling like we have nothing to wear or we've gone shopping and come home with items that don't work for us? And then we have the guilt of unused clothes and the stress of a disorganized wardrobe. The feeling of being disconnected from ourselves. And so in those moments, it's easier just to say, "You know what, none of this matters. I'm just going to stop worrying about it and just get on with my life." But the problem with this is that clothing, just like food is something that we utilize every single day. And when we are interacting with something every single day, we want to make sure that our relationship with that thing that we're interacting with is healthy and it serves us and it feels good.

I'll never forget this French woman saying the three things that we do every single day is that we eat, we get dressed, and we live in our homes. And those are oftentimes the three things that we neglect the most. Think about that. The three things that you are going to be doing every day for the rest of your life. Do you like your relationship with those three things? Do you love your relationship with food? Do you love your relationship with your home? And do you love your relationship with your clothing? If you want to have a better relationship with anything, but specifically for this podcast, I'm talking about your style, it really boils down to your habits. Creating intentional style habits will first of all save you time by reducing decision fatigue, making, getting dressed simple and effortless. It will also save you money because it's going to allow you to eliminate those impulse purchases and those things that just collect in your closet but aren't really utilized. And style habits can also save you energy by decluttering both your physical space and your mental space.

So I want you to imagine opening your closet and just feeling a sense of calm, excitement, alignment. Imagine packing for a trip, knowing exactly what to bring and not bringing so much stuff you need like three suitcases. Imagine putting on an outfit that truly reflects who you are. Boosting your mood, your confidence, and therefore your entire day. Style has this trickle effect because it's not even about the clothes, it's about you and how you feel. And when you make intentional choices about how you think, how you feel, and how you show up in the world, the benefit has to be positive. This isn't just about looking good, but let's not lie to ourselves. It's okay to want to look good. I feel like people are ashamed these days for caring about how they look. Now, I do think there's a fine line. It really does depend on the energy from which this comes. Because if you're trying to look good to get approval and to get everybody to admire you, that is a slippery slope.

But if you want to look good for yourself, there is nothing wrong with that. But this is really about feeling good. It is about respecting yourself enough to present your best self to yourself. It's about aligning your outer appearance with your inner values and aspirations and what that looks like on you is going to be different than what it's going to look like on me. That's why I don't want you all to get it confused. When I talk about style, I do believe that sometimes your brain immediately goes to, well, this is going to be expensive, or, oh my God, I'm going to have to go out and buy designer handbags. Not at all. Because are all so beautifully and uniquely different and we have different values, we have different dreams, we have different priorities. But again, the one thing we have to do every day is get up and get dressed so why not be confident in that? And it boils down to your style habits. Your style habits are those things that you do on repeat that affect your appearance.

So today I'm going to share with you five style habits that have elevated my life. I have others, but I couldn't share them all in this podcast. But if you are a School of Self-Image member, this will be our focus for the month of August. We're going to dive deeper into this. We're going to put it into practice. And if you are listening to this and you're thinking, "Oh my goodness, this is what I need. I need to focus on this because I'm frustrated with my closet. I'm frustrated with how much money I'm spending on clothes, and yet I always feel like I have nothing to wear. I'm frustrated that I just can't figure this out." I have some good news. We have opened the doors to the membership for 48 hours for those of you who want to get in for the month of August. Our focus will be elevating our style habits. We're going to go much deeper into this topic because it is deep believe it or not.

When I'm coaching women around style, the stuff that comes up really shows you that this isn't just about what color I should wear or what is the must haves of a staple wardrobe. There are deep beliefs. There are deep emotions that surround this topic. And so I'm super excited to coach you all. I'm super excited to go deeper into this topic and share more of the style habits that have really impacted my life in such a positive way. So if you want to join us, you can go to schoolofselfimage.com/join, and I cannot wait to see you inside.

Now let's talk about the five style habits that have elevated my life. Habit number one, intentional shopping with a style vision. Now, I'm going to speak about this very broadly. This is something that I go deep into in the style experience, which is my six-month signature program where we dive deep into this topic. But what do I mean by a style vision first of all? A style vision is a very clear idea of how you want to express your being in the world. And there's a lot of different elements involved such as your personality and your values and your aspirations and your lifestyle. But years ago, I was notorious for just buying things. I would go to the store, I would see something on a mannequin and I'd be like, "Oh, that looks good." And I would buy it. Or I would be online shopping out of boredom and want to get a dopamine hit and I would see something and I would buy it.

Now, let's think of the cascade effect of this. So you buy something, you bring it home, or you order it online, it arrives at your house and you put it on and all of a sudden you're like, "Gosh. I hate the way this looks. I thought it would look better." So now you're spinning in negative thoughts about how you just can't seem to figure this out, how nothing looks good on you. You may start berating your beautiful body. And so now you're feeling frustrated, disappointed, hopeless as it relates to your style and your closet. But then let's think about the other factors involved. Now we have to package this stuff up or either go back to the store to return it. I want you to think about all of the negative emotion and all of the wasted energy and time that comes from not having a clear style vision.

When I saw myself in this pattern and feeling stuck in it, I was like, something has got to change. I was spending my time, my energy, and my money in a negative way. And this is what happens not just with our clothing, but in life when we don't have a vision, when we don't know where we want to go, when we don't know how we want to be, we can often just spin. And so we have to get off of this crazy roller coaster and figure this stuff out. It's why I always say a style journey is one of the most amazing journeys you'll ever go on as a woman, because again, it's not just about picking out an outfit, it's getting to know who you really are. And so I spent a lot of time ... I made it a habit to study myself. To study my preferences, what I loved and what I didn't love. To study my values, to get really clear on what is really important to you Tonya, and are you shopping accordingly?

Are you styling your life to represent your unique values? And you knew what else this required, that I get clear on? What I wanted for my life. What were my dreams? What were my aspirations? And was I dressing accordingly? Because everything is energy. It's all energy. I'm a big believer in dressing for your life now and dressing for the future. And there is this beautiful bridge that connects the two. And we can walk on that bridge in clothing that will help us get there faster. I could do a whole podcast just on this topic alone because I know without a doubt, a hundred percent that clothing has helped me create the life that I'm living today. No doubt in my mind. And it wasn't about other people. It was about the message that I was constantly sending to myself. There's a big difference in waking up, being unintentional with what you're putting on, feeling like you are just slogging through the day versus being intentional and creating this vibrancy, creating this excitement, creating this care of yourself.

And I don't think it is a coincidence that when I started doing this work around my style, that my life started to elevate. And it did start with a habit. A habit of studying myself. And through this habit, I started to create mood boards. So I'm going to get more specific now. I started to create mood boards. I kept a style journal and I figured out what was my personal style statement. A style statement is typically one statement, three adjectives that really defines the core of your self-expression. And once I had that, it allowed me to be more intentional with my shopping. Now with a style vision comes deeper work and education. Getting to know what colors look best on me, getting to know my body's proportions, getting to know what fabrics I love and the ones that I don't love. Learning what cuts work for me and what cuts don't. All of that was part of my style vision. But once I had all of that, then shopping became so much easier.

I was one of those people that when I would go into a store, I was completely overwhelmed and I would just start grabbing things hoping that they would work. And nine times out of 10, they didn't. It was like shooting in the dark. And so getting to know myself, not just my preferences and my style statement, but also my body, all of that again, has made shopping so ... I want to say effortless. It's not quite effortless because you do have to look. But the more you do it, the easier it gets. Often say whatever you practice the most is what you're getting the best at. And I've gotten really good at practicing being intentional. And from this intentionality, I have a shopping list.

Every season I know what I need to fill the gaps in my wardrobe. And there are other factors that go into that like what are the events coming up? What's priority in my right now? But having this intentionality around shopping, I cannot tell you all how much money it saved, how much time it's saved, how much energy it saved me. And it all starts with having a style vision. And that is a habit. It's a habit of checking in with yourself. It's a habit of getting to know yourself. It's a habit of self-awareness and self-reflection. And that is something that we do within the membership. We have a process called the Daily Five Journal that we engage with every single day that helps us to be intentional. So that is habit number one.

Habit number two, that really elevated my life as it relates to style is one that women are often most uncomfortable with. But I will tell you, if you do this and then you pair it with style education, this habit will change your style. It will help you in ways I can't even explain right now. You just have to do it. I don't do this as often now. It was something that I did a lot early on. It was a habit. But now that I feel like I have solidified my style, I only do this if I am experimenting or something doesn't quite feel right with an outfit. But daily outfit photos in a full length mirror will change your style. And it might sound a bit self-indulgent at first, but hear me out. This practice isn't about vanity. It's about your awareness and learning and educating yourself. You don't have to show these to anyone. I didn't. I did it for me. I wanted to be a student of myself. And in this case, I wanted to be a student of my style.

So every morning I would get dressed and I would take a quick full length photo of my outfit. And it only takes a moment. But the insights are invaluable. And by documenting your daily outfits, you can begin to understand what's working and what's not. You can begin to see patterns in the outfits that you really love and you feel most confident in. You can start to see the ones that you don't love and you're like, "I don't like that outfit." And then you can be like, "Okay. Why not?" Oh, I think it might be the cut or I think it's the color. You're going to start to see things when you study yourself objectively. Now, here's a very important rule of this habit. I don't have a lot of rules, but this is one. To be objective about anything you must be curious instead of critical. You cannot learn about yourself as you are criticizing yourself. I want you all to replace criticism with curiosity. Being curious about what you're seeing. Doing it from a place of love and wanting to improve your style, not from a place of self-loathing and telling yourself you aren't good enough, that something's wrong with you.

And listen, I have coached women of all sizes, all shapes, all colors, and no one is immune from this. I think we have this belief, oh, if I could just look like this person, then I wouldn't be so critical. Now, that's not true. I have coached women that could probably have walked the runway, and they are oftentimes more critical. We have to love ourselves to change ourselves. That's the irony in all of this. When you begin to love and accept yourself, that's when you can change. That is a famous Carl Rogers quote. The curious paradox is that when I love and accept myself as I am, then I can change.

So taking this outfit photo every single day as a style habit really did elevate my style and my life because again, I started to see patterns, I started to see proportions, I started to see colors. That's why I don't really buy a lot of black now. I used to have a closet full of black. That's all I would buy. It was my safe go-to choice because black is slimming. Black is chic. So why not fill our closet? But I started to really study my photos and I was like, it's actually not the most flattering color on me, because I would put it beside a photo where I was wearing navy or gray or even like a cream. And I was like, "Oh my God. I look so much younger and more vibrant in these colors versus black." And that's from studying my photos. So that's habit number two. Take a daily outfit photo and study it from a place of curiosity, not criticism.

Habit number three. This one I love. Some of y'all may hate this one, but I love it because it's helped me to streamline and stay on top of my closet. And it's also allowed me to stay on top of myself to make sure that I am being intentional and making sure my closet doesn't get out of control. Y'all know what I'm talking about. I swear, I think sometimes our clothes are having sex with each other and reproducing because I will go into my closet ... And think about it. I just did this three months ago and there will be a couple of things, I'm like, "Where did you come from? I didn't know you were here." And so doing this every season had so many benefits. It allows me to sit down with myself every three months and ask, "Okay. How are you feeling? What's working? What's not working? What's the next level? What do you need to let go of?" And doing that through my close.

And so during these reviews, I like to go through every piece and ask questions like, does it fit? Have I worn it? If we're not wearing things, why are we filling our house up with them? Why are we keeping them around? And usually that comes from scarcity. Well, if I get rid of it, I may never be able to have something like it again. Or maybe there will be another steampunk party like the one I went to 15 years ago and I can use this again. It's just such negative energy that often causes us to hold onto things that are wanting to exit our lives.

And it's really interesting because as I'm recording this, I just yesterday finished packing up my house. We are in this weird transition where we are in between. Our lease ended and we couldn't extend it because we extended it three times and they had people moving in and the house isn't ready and so we're in an Airbnb. But nevertheless packed up my clothing. And keep in mind, I do this every season, so I'm onto myself. And there were a couple pieces that I held onto last season thinking, "God, I spent so much money on these things and I'm hoping that I can use them again." But the reality is I don't like them that much on me now. I've changed and they don't feel right for me. And so I let them go. I boxed them up, I'm going to take them to consignment, but I could see the energy of the guilt and the sunken cost fallacy of I better keep it because I invested so much in it even though I haven't worn it in actually three seasons. And I don't see myself wearing it. It's like I'm trying to will myself into wanting to wear something that I don't actually want to wear. And so I got rid of it.

So we need to ask ourselves, do I even wear it? Do I see myself wearing it or am I trying to will myself into wearing something that I don't actually want to wear? And then does it spark joy? I do love that Marie Kondo question because if it's not sparking joy, it doesn't belong in our lives. And then finally, I love this question. Does it belong in the closet of my future self? So again, as I was talking earlier, I love dressing for our current self and her style and also having pieces that bridge into the future, into our future selves. And I want us to be wearing those things now. And so these quarterly closet edits really allow you to go deeper than just am I keeping it or letting it go? It causes you to ask the questions of yourself to reflect and to think about what's working in your life and what's not, what you love, what you don't love, what you value, where you're going. It's a ritual. A quarterly ritual of personal development where you get to stop for a moment, go into your closet and go deeper beyond the close to look at what's driving your behaviors, to assess your needs, to realign your wardrobe with your current lifestyle and your aspirations.

And I will tell you the one mantra that has really, really supported me and the willingness to let go is ... I love the mantra of I'm letting this go so that something else better can take its place. I'm clearing the space for something better to come into my life. And it may not be clothes. It may be something totally different. But that has given me the courage to let things go faster. So style habit number three, a quarterly style edit.

Style habit number four is going to be a big one. I know I'm not alone in this, and before I tell you what it is, I just want you to ask yourself if this sounds familiar. You can't find things and so you end up buying things you don't need or you spend so much time, you really waste time looking for things that you know have but you can't find. Maybe you know you're going to wear your blazer today and you're like, "I need that simple white tee to wear underneath it, but I can't find it. It's got to be somewhere." Style habit number four, ladies, is to keep everything in sight. You know what they say, out of sight, out of mind. Well, it's true. If you don't see it, you forget you have it or you're frustrated and like I said, you waste a lot of time looking for it.

I got into the habit of organizing and keeping my closet so that it maximizes visibility. Now, I know that we're all working with space constraints. Trust me, if anyone knows this, it's me because I've had some tiny closets. I actually lived in a place about five, six years ago that didn't even have a closet, so I was forced to put everything out. It was like a loft area, so I had my clothes hanging in the loft. But I've also had little tiny closets, and it is doable no matter your situation. It is about systems. It's about you organizing your mind to keep up with those systems and making this a priority.

Personally, I really love open shelving. I love being able to see my folded items for sweaters, jeans, and other sturdy items that don't easily wrinkle. Also, clear storage containers. Using those clear containers, you can see what's in them. For the longest time, I would just put things in a box where I couldn't see what was in it, and I would forget. I would be like, "What's in that box?" And I'd pull it down and be like, "Oh my God, I've been looking for that hat. I forgot that I put it in that box." And so having those clear containers allows you to actually see what's in them. Vertical hanging is so useful, especially if you are working with smaller spaces. It allows you to hang multiple pieces on one hanger, and that was ideal for camisoles and tank tops. Over the door organizers, you can put them on the back of your door so you can put your shoes and your accessories.

Fold your clothes vertically. This is the KonMari method where you fold your clothes that you can see everything so they're not stacked on top of each other, but they're stacked beside each other. I love hooks for certain things. I like slide out belt racks. Remember, the key is to find a system that works for you and your specific space and lifestyle. But I guarantee you this, it is going to first of all, help eliminate frustration that I have nothing to wear a feeling you will begin to see, oh, actually I do because I can actually see my options. So putting together outfits will become so much easier. Also, it's going to save you money. When you can see what you have, you're less likely to buy those duplicate items or pieces that don't fill a genuine gap in your wardrobe. When you can clearly see, oh, no, wait, I actually already own three white button down shirts. I probably don't need another one. Or you can clearly see, oh my goodness, I have five, six pairs of jeans in that same light wash color. I don't need another pair of jeans. When you are seeing that every day, it creates this sense of abundance in your closet where you're like, "I already have that." And that leads me to habit number five. In fact, the first four habits are leading up to what I think is the best habit to have.

Style habit number five is to practice having gratitude for your wardrobe. I have experienced, and I've expressed it on this podcast before, and I know I've expressed it in the membership, but the more abundant I feel, the less I want. The less money I spend, and therefore it creates more abundance. When you practice gratitude for your current wardrobe and you truly spend time with it, you're in there doing your quarterly edits, you the style vision, and you're intentionally shopping and appreciating everything that you have and are going to have, it's like having that gratitude ahead of time. When you are putting things out where you can see them, when you're taking those daily outfit photos and you are realizing how blessed you are to have clothes, and at the same time being curious about what's working and what's not, it does create this sense of abundance. The sense of I am so blessed to have what I already have. We live in a world that tries to sell us on the idea that if you can just have more, more, then you're going to be happier. And so we are online shopping, we are stuffing our closets full of more things. Then where's that happiness? It's not in your clothes because clothes don't create happiness. You create your happiness. I want our clothing, what we wear to be an extension of our joy, not the source of our joy.

Because if it's the source of your joy, then you think, oh, I have to buy more and more to have joy and that's just not how it works. But I also get that you may be in a place where you feel like maybe you haven't been intentional with your shopping, maybe you haven't had that style vision and there's a gap in your wardrobe. And you may be thinking, "Well, Tonya, are you telling me not to buy anything else?" No. I see gratitude as a foundation, not only for my wardrobe, but for my life. Appreciating what you have doesn't mean you can't desire new things. But gratitude does help you create a positive relationship with your current wardrobe. And I love growing from that positive place. It can reduce impulse buying and over consumption. And also gratitude for me has led to me having a greater appreciation for quality.

It can guide you to make better, more aligned purchases in the future. And when you're grateful for what you have, new purchases do become more intentional. You're more likely to add things that genuinely enhance your wardrobe and align with your style vision. And to me, gratitude helps me to balance contentment with growth. I think you can have both because it's not about settling or stagnating, it's about finding joy in what you have while opening up the space for positive change. Also, with this comes reframing your wants because I think a lot of times we build our wardrobes from a place of lack. I'm not good enough. I don't look good enough. And so we're always trying to grow from a place of lack. So when I'm in a place of gratitude, what it does is it helps me to add new items to my wardrobe to complement what I already have. It sounds like a subtle shift, but its impact is huge. So often we're focused on what I don't have, what I'm lacking, what's missing, and I like to think about what am I going to add that's going to compliment what I already have?

The other point with gratitude is I want us all to see our style as a journey. It's not a destination. I do think we have this idea of one day I'm going to have it all figured out and my closet is going to be perfect. And that's just not the reality because you're going to grow. I have grown so much with my style. The things that I thought I should want, I no longer want. It's just not important to me. It's shifted. It's changed. And so it's not a destination that we arrive at. It is an ongoing journey, and I'm so happy for it.

It means I'm always going to be learning. I'm always going to be growing. I'll never be bored with my style. It is going to evolve. But gratitude can help us enjoy the process of evolving our style. Gratitude can also help you avoid comparison because especially with social media, I know the temptation to look at other people's wardrobes and think, oh my God, if only if only I could wear that. If only I had that. And you start to feel really negative because you're always looking outside and comparing your life to what other people have. Bring that home. Bring it back to yourself. Don't outsource your joy. When you are in a state of gratitude, there is no space for comparison. You're like, "I am so happy for what I have." And then you can appreciate and be inspired by other people but there's not that comparison energy that makes you feel awful.

When you really make a commitment, a style habit of appreciating what you have, it is going to change your relationship with your closet, your relationship with your style, and most importantly, the relationship you have with yourself. When I put on clothing, it is like a sacred experience. In fact, as I was packing up my closet, I came across this cashmere sweater that I bought in Paris probably eight years ago. It's been a while. And to this day, it is my favorite sweater that I've ever owned. And I remember when I purchased this. I could not believe how much money I was paying for this sweater. I had a lot of drama around it. But looking back now, it was worth every penny. I have gotten so much wear out of this sweater. And as I was looking at it, I just had so much gratitude for my courage to invest in a sweater like this. But also it took me back to the store where I bought this sweater. It took me back to the day. I remember the exact day. I remember where I went to lunch. I remember who I was with, and it was just this beautiful moment. It was about so much more than the sweater. It was just about the whole experience.

But then I started to think about all of the times that I've worn the sweater. In fact, I was thinking about when I lived in that little cabin in Colorado, and it would be so cold outside. Seriously, snow would be above the windows and that was my go-to sweater. I would put her on and she would keep me so warm all day long. I had a moment with my sweater of just immense gratitude for our journey together, and she's still hanging in there. She still looks good. She's still warm. I have taken such a good care of this sweater. But it's these moments that just make me so grateful for what I already have.

Listen, I am your biggest advocate in you wanting whatever you want. But we often equate more stuff with more success, more joy, more happiness, and we need to reverse engineer it. We need to create that feeling of joy, success, happiness. Whatever it is that you're wanting more of. It's not found in stuffing your life with more things. It's found as a foundation of appreciating what you already have. And this may be my most important style habit that's had a positive impact on my life than any of the others. It's allowed me to be more intentional with my shopping, to have a healthy relationship with my closet, and to create that joy, that deep joie de vivre that comes from within. And then I just get to express that through my actions, my behaviors, and yes, what I wear.

So that, my friends, are the five style habits that have elevated my life. There are others, but these are five big ones. Intentional shopping with a style vision, taking daily outfit photos, having a quarterly or seasonal closet edit, keeping everything in sight and practicing gratitude for my wardrobe. They've saved me time, money, and energy, and they've boosted my confidence and helped me to feel more authentically myself. But here's the thing. These habits are just the beginning. There's so much more to explore when it comes to elevating your style and by extension your self-image. And that's why I would love for you to join us within the membership for the month of August if this is something that you want to focus on. We are going to be diving deep into elevating our style habits. So if this has resonated with you and you want to take it to the next level, come join us. You can go to schoolofselfimage.com/join. We are opening enrollment for 48 hours only, so come and join us and let's elevate our style habits together. I hope you all have a beautiful, beautiful day, and I will see you on the next episode. Cheers.

Before we part ways, I have an exciting invitation for you. If you have been desiring to elevate your style, but find yourself stuck, unsure, or overwhelmed, I've created something very special just for you. Join me for a private 12-week podcast series called Why Don't You. Where we're going to dive deep into personal style confidence and self-expression. It is an intimate journey designed for the discerning woman who knows she's capable of more, but needs that extra guidance and inspiration. And just so you know, this isn't about fleeting trends or rules. It's about discovering and embracing your unique style story. So to access this private series, all you need to do is go to schoolofselfimage.com/why and secure your spot. And remember, true style is timeless and it starts with you. Why don't you join us and unveil the most stylish version of yourself?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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