How to Wear Your Word of the Year
How many of you start your day by asking yourself... HOW DO I WANT TO FEEL TODAY? And then get dressed in a way that connects you to those FEELS?
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If you've done Style School, then you KNOW this is a revel-YOU-tionary way to approach your closet AND your day.
If you haven't done Style School... then buckle up, because I'm gonna walk you through how you can use ONE WORD to trigger some serious closet creativity!
This one word can be your WORD OF THE YEAR, or any other dang word you please.
Wanna change the world (or at least YOUR world) but can't get outta your own damn way? Time to get INTENTIONAL about what you gotta tap into - inside of you - to be that change.
For me, 2020 is all about DISRUPT.
I talked all about why I chose DISRUPT as my 2020 word of the year HERE... and now, I'm gonna share with you how/why I WEAR MY WORD.
One of the things I've gotten pretty adept at in the past few years is connecting to my FEELS. In other words, I've gotten pretty good at being able to identify when something FEELS good, and DOES NOT feel good.
Like when...
I tell myself that I'm going to walk my kids to school, but then drive them instead.
I'm hungry as a hippo and my body is telling me I need to eat... but I stay at my computer way too long and end up missing lunch.
I've got a big heart-project to work on, but keep house-working myself to the bone so, "oops, can't find the time!"
This kind of stuff always makes me feel BAD inside my body, and I end up feeling disappointed in myself.
It's as if there's a part of me that wants to DO THE THING, but there's another bigger-stronger-more powerful part of me that keeps sabotaging me. AND I LET IT.
My strategy is to get wicked intentional, and filter MY WHOLE DAMN LIFE through the lens of DISRUPT.
I'm going to...
DISRUPT the thought that tells me it's ok to drive the kids to school, when my soul fire wants me to walk.
DISRUPT the thought that tells me it's ok to skip lunch, when my body needs me to eat.
DISRUPT the thought that tells me the floors need sweeping, when my heart wants me to work on that big project.
It's gonna be hard. And I'm gonna wanna quit by the end of the month.
I know this about myself... so I've got to get WICKED INTENTIONAL about cultivating the OOOMPH that I know lives inside me, so my guts can withstand the constant barrage of "sit down, take a break, you'll do it tomorrow, you're not strong enough" that I KNOW is gonna come my way.
How do I do that? I get dressed in a way that connects me to my WORD/my WORK.
I've been getting dressed, paying attention, asking myself... What FEELS like DISRUPT for me?
And right now, it feels like hoodies, neck gaiters, and cheeky winter hats. It feels like denim. It feels like black and white and lace. When my daughter's new Vans came in the mail, I realized DISRUPT felt like Vans! So I bought myself a pair. When I got dressed the other day... I wanted black jeans. I don't have any... but I know I want them.
I've discovered that when it comes to my closet, DISRUPT is just as much an action as it is an actual "style". It's me getting up and getting dressed right off... instead of waiting until 10 or 11 or 12 to get out of my pjs. It's choosing the orange earrings, when my usual-self would choose the silver. It's wearing the cropped top I wanna wear, even though I know people will leave snarky comments on my Instagram telling me my cropped-top days are over.
We're only a week into the New Year, and so far... this is what DISRUPT looks like for me.
I've adjusted my closet to "support" my word (my work) every year... for 5 years now. And I just KNOW that this kind of wear-my-word intentionality is what's allowed me to STICK TO MY WORD for an entire year, five years running.
BRAVE
In 2015 my word was BRAVE. It was a big word for me, and choosing it as my WORD set me on my entrepreneurial course. I spent my life believing that I wasn't brave. Sure, I did hard things like join the Peace Corps and navigate the healthcare system as a medical mama... but those were done out a need to prove myself, as a person, as a mother, as a friggin’ human being.
BRAVE is different.
By starting each morning connected to my BRAVE, I was able to practice stepping outside of my comfort zone. I wore concoctions that I would have NEVER dreamed of just the year before.
FIERCE (LOVE)
In 2016, when my word was FIERCE (LOVE), I traded in my colorful and patterned palette for blacks, blues, and grays. I started wearing more denim, leather, and shiny metal. Every day when I stood in front of my closet - sometimes exhausted, worn out and overwhelmed - I would REMEMBER that I WAS FIERCE, and I would choose my outfit accordingly.
PLAY
In 2017, my word was PLAY! I donated everything in my closet that was synthetic, and focused more on wearing clothes that were 100% cotton. I wanted clothes that I could PLAY in. PLAY was the year that I fell back in love with fuchsia and polka dots and florals. And it was the year that I FINALLY invested in congruent hiking gear!
EASE
In 2018, my word was EASE. I traded out some of my beloved and bold colors and patterns for more soothing colors and delicate patterns. And I started wearing jeans again. Ripped ones, because man they made me feel at ease. My natural energetic tendency trends more toward whirling dervish than a cool cucumber, so beginning my day WEARING MY EASE set me up for, well, more ease!
CEO
In 2019, my word was CEO. It was about stepping up and stepping out. It was about being brave enough to suck at something new. I wanted to feel-inside-my-bones that I was a competent business woman who might not have it all figured out, but was heart-set on doing her best. That meant my own version of "business casual" which meant blazers, my new locally-made "CEO purse" and artisan made accessories.
Now, I don't want you to go thinking that I went out and bought a whole new wardrobe every year to support me in "my work". No way. I used what I had... I styled things up differently. Here, take a look...
And this...
Same dresses, styled up differently to connect me to the FEELS I wanted to FEEL.
It's cool, isn't it, to see how my "style" has changed over the years? And it only make sense! Inside-out Congruency is-not and can-not be static. We’re dynamic women, so OF COURSE our style, our congruency, has to change as WE change.
You know what else is cool? I can look back at photos from the last 5 years and know exactly what year it was just by looking at what I was wearing.
I can remember the INTENTION associated with the FEELS associated with the clothes!
I wore my word. I lived my word. I cultivated my word.
Wearing your word allows you to LIVE YOUR WORD, instead of just applying your word to happenstance and circumstance.
Wearing your word holds you accountable to YOU!
This is BIG WORK, my friends. And it’s accomplished in small, doable daily intentions that tangibly align you with your word/work in a tangible way. Hey! You gotta get dressed everyday anyway, so why not USE it to explore your growth edge!?
xo Stasia
