Be Well Moment: Exploring Your Clothing Preferences

What if getting dressed could actually help shift your mood before your day even begins? Welcome back to Be Well Besties, where we talk about caring for our brains in real everyday ways. So often getting dressed happens on autopilot or worse, it becomes another stressful moment. We rush, we judge, and we ignore how our bodies actually feel. Today's episode is a short guided mindfulness practice designed to help you tune in.
By paying attention to textures, colors, and personal preferences, we can use what's already in our closet as a simple tool for regulation and nervous system support.
So get comfortable, take a deep breath, and let's explore what it looks like to dress for the mood you want.
All right, friends, are we ready to dive in?
All right, we're going to just jump right in.
let's get started. Get settled. Get comfortable in your seat. Wherever you are, take a comfortable
seat. Soften your stance. Maybe play with letting your shoulders drop away from your ears.
Unclench your jaw. Maybe close your eyes if it feels safe. And take one slow, deep breath in
through your nose and let it out through your mouth. No need to change anything just yet.
were only arriving. Now I want you to imagine your closet, not the rushed 6 a.m. half-awake
version of it, not the I have nothing to wear version, but your closet as a space of choice,
of preference, maybe even of possibility. Picture the colors inside it. Maybe they're soft and muted
and feel grounding. Maybe they're bold and joyful, uplifting. Maybe it's a mix that reflects all of
the versions of you that show up in a week. Notice what draws your eye first. There's no right answer
here. It's just information. Now imagine reaching for a fabric. Let your mind remember the texture.
Is it structured or flowy? Smooth or cozy? Heavy and grounding or light and breathable?
As you imagine it in your hands, ask yourself quietly, how does my brain respond to this?
What's happening in my body when I wear this? Not how it looks, not what it should say about you,
just how it feels. Take another deep breath in and let it go.
Here's the gentle reframe we're playing with today. Getting dressed can be a form of regulation,
a daily low stakes way to support how we want to feel. So instead of asking, what do I need to wear?
Or we're going to ask, how do I want to feel today?
Is it calm, confident, protected, creative, capable, cozy, bold, or steady?
Let one mood speak to you.
Just one, whichever bubbles up first.
Now let's build an outfit that supports that feeling.
If that mood had a color, what would it be?
What if it had a shape or a texture?
Maybe calm looks like neutral tones and soft, cozy knits.
Maybe confident feels like the strong lines of a favorite jacket or a structured blazer.
Maybe creativity shows up in pattern, color, or something just a little unexpected.
There's no aesthetic goal here.
It's not about trends or rules.
It's just about listening.
Notice how different that feels in your body.
Choosing for yourself instead of performing as yourself.
If your closet could speak back to you, what pieces would feel like friends?
Which ones feel supportive on hard days?
Which ones help you stand just a little bit taller?
Now take a moment to notice if there's a mismatch anywhere, clothes you maybe keep out of obligation
or versions of yourself that you've maybe outgrown.
And we're just noticing that without judgment.
Here's the reminder that I want you to take with you.
Your preferences are just data.
They tell you what helps you feel safe or energized, focused or grounded.
them isn't indulgent or superficial. It's attuned to who you are and who you want to be.
When we dress with intention, with texture, color, and comfort in mind, we're sending our nervous
system a quiet message. We're saying, I'm paying attention. I care about how you feel.
Now, as we close, imagine yourself opening your closet tomorrow. You pause, you intentionally
check in and you choose something not to impress anyone, not to prove something, but to support
the version of you and yourself that's walking into the day. Take one final deep breath in
and out. Feel your feet where they meet the ground, maybe how your seat feels under you,
and when you're ready, gently bring your attention back to the present.
All right, friends, this is where we ask for observations.
How did that feel for you?
So I was a little distracted at first.
It took my brain a hot second to settle in today, which is completely normal for mindfulness.
And to be honest, it's what our brains are designed to do is to wander.
And so the first few minutes, it took a lot of, okay, come back to this moment.
Okay.
I see you wandering.
Come back.
but I was able to settle in quite a bit.
And then there was something you read in the script that said,
and you may have to, I may ask you to go back to it,
but it was something along the lines of dressing for yourself
instead of performing as yourself that I was just like, oh.
I had never thought about like, oh, this is for me,
not this is me putting on something to be perceived in a particular way.
So that was very, it's kind of like a light bulb moment for me.
And just appreciated going through the different preferences
and what mood I was dressing for versus what thing I am dressing for.
I love that.
And this one was new for me.
You know, I haven't had one that was literally kind of walking through
again, those preferences, but just in our closet.
So that was pretty cool.
I found myself grateful
because I had just reorganized my closet.
Amazing. Perfect timing.
And I purposely, it was good to go through this though
because I purposely had one area of cozy things.
You know, one area of things that is a little more meaningful.
One area that has more of the, you know, blazers and things like that.
But I think I kept on, my mind would keep on flipping between
the really cozy things that I would kind of lean into
maybe after a day or on a weekend.
And then also to kind of those things that are just more eye-catching.
and it was fun to be able to think about why I'm wearing them
and when I'm wearing them and which ones I'm reaching for the most.
So this was really cool. Yeah, thank you.
I did just want to note too, really quick, sorry, Shelby.
Yeah, please.
For some folks, the visualization piece of this can be really tricky
and being able to imagine, like your closet,
and we were having a conversation about this earlier.
If that is us, if we are somebody who really struggles
with coming up with a visual image in our mind,
you can still do this practice by physically walking into your closet and taking inventory of
what are my cozy things? What are the fabrics I'm pulled to? What are my colors communicating? What
am I drawn to and what mood I want? So we can still do this practice, even if it's physically
in person. It does not necessarily have to stay in a mindfulness realm. I love that observation.
And just a reminder that we make mindfulness fit wherever we are, right? It's not a one size fit
all if you are distracted and bringing your brain back to the moment and you're doing your
mindfulness practice right all right besties let this practice be a reminder that you get to choose
to dress for the mood that you want it might be a little scary it might end up being really fun
but it is your choice the whole way thank you for joining us and be well