What to Wear Besides Leggings
Fall is quickly approaching and with that leggings quickly become a go to, so what better time than now to discuss what you can wear besides leggings if you are tired of feeling like they are your only option!
I have no problem with leggings, but the truth is they are not your only option, even if it's cold where you live. If they feel like your only option, and you're getting sick of them, but don't know what else could possibly take their place... this is for you.
The first step is noticing anytime you are telling yourself that the items you have made your go-tos are your only options and everything else just doesn't feel as good or work is good.
This isn't true if you also don't even feel good in your go-to leggings. The main difference between your go-to outfit and the things you never wear that are in your closet is discomfort. Your go-to is a safety net and is comforting, while other things just don't feel "quite right"... it's because you're not used to you being in them as much as you are reliant on your go-to.
You don't have try and change your beliefs or shift into a false positive mindset. Just catch yourself whenever you are believing that your leggings are your only option and ask yourself how this isn't true. We always have other options, we have pants, denim, skirts, dresses, tights, overalls, jumpers, etc... so check in with yourself whenever your leggings feel like the only thing you have to wear.
I've had many clients end up realizing that they had at least 5-6 other things they could be wearing that they liked just as much, if not more, the leggings were just a natural choice at this point that required no energy. The problem with an outfit requiring no energy, is that it tends to feel that way when we wear it too, which is why we grow tired of our go-to outfits.
Our connection with our clothes really does go beyond surface level, the energy (and I don't mean work) we put into our clothes and self can be felt. And if you don't think that's true just take a moment to think about how you have felt in your clothes this past week. Whether it was good or bad, whether you avoided it or not, you most likely didn't just think "I put on my clothes, I'm dressed, and I don't care about it." and feel nothing.
There is always an exchange taking place and we get to decide how we want to show up in our clothes, and let our clothes amplify and mirror that energy for us.
SO HOW do you get yourself to actually want to wear something else?
Some of my client's favourite tips I have given on this is to:
1. Start wearing the leggings as a first choice. Decide to wear them on purpose, and not after you have tried to wear other things, gotten frustrated, and turned towards your trusted leggings, sighed, and thought to yourself "well this is all that works for me"...
This one helped me a lot because it took me out of seeing my leggings as this shitty option that I felt was all I really "liked" wearing and helped me see that I could build excitement and confidence in getting dressed if I was starting my weeks and days off with something that I felt comfortable in and was deciding to wear on purpose. Whenever I was putting them on as a last ditch effort it always made them feel like the lazy/ugly choice. When I decided to wear them on purpose, as my first choice, I got to stop beating myself up about resorting to wearing leggings again and I had more energy to play around with actually styling them instead of just throwing on any shirt just to get out of my closet and on with my day.
I promise you will realize you have more options than what you always stick to if you try this out. This is quite literally how I moved towards wearing predominately dresses, as well as dresses and tights on cold weather days before I even knew or defined my own personal style. It helps you take steps to wearing more of your wardrobe without trying to wear a bunch of random things you don't feel comfortable wearing.
2. BUT if you are like some of my clients and you just want to completely stop wearing leggings you can try the reverse of this, which is making your leggings a true last resort or a non-option.
Either putting your leggings away in storage or making a plan to actively wear other things.
This one did not personally work well for me because it just felt like a restrictive diet, but quitting cold turkey has helped many, I have even heard mentors (women I look up to) saying that they just decided to get rid of every single piece of comfy clothing they owned so that they were never options anymore.
It really depends on what you feel you need to take the next step. The approaches are the literal opposites of each other, so just ask yourself, when it comes to where you are right now in life which option is going to work best for you and weigh the opportunities of each.
For some people the first option doesn't work because they feel like they are still stuck in their leggings, for some people the second option doesn't work because leggings are predominately all they own. So really consider which option is best for you.
On the flip side the first approach is amazing for building playfulness in your wardrobe and allowing you to get creative and see what you like without trying to do a complete 180 and ditch your leggings only to end up in them because you don't know what you like outside of them yet.
The second approach instills a sense of determination and motivation for fast paced change. There is no resorting back to your leggings or comfy clothes if they are gone.
As we shift into fall and leggings become more prominent I want to leave you with a style challenge!
Pick one of these two options and do them full out.
If it is option 1 try it all month long, and take pictures of your progress.
If it is option 2 immediately pick a day and time to purge anything you don't wear for activewear purposes and make them limited to those activities. DO NOT wait on this, if you are hesitating already to set aside time in the near future to do this, this most likely is not the option for you, unless you feel like proving me wrong ;).
Whichever option you choose, remember you're doing this for yourself. This isn't about anyone else, it's simply about changing how you get dressed everyday so that you can go from feeling frustrated to refreshed.
Love & Trust Yourself