How bold #officestyle makes me more confident

Happy Friday, sweet friends! Can I just tell you guys how excited I am for it to be almost the weekend? This week was super busy, however, I am back into my routines with working out and dedicating much needed time to the blog. In case you missed it, I have been able to post more beauty content on the blog and more style content on Instagram, both of which were goals for Q3 for me. Outside of blogging, Sunday will officially be two months (by date) of being at my new job. I know – I can barely believe it. Time has seriously been flying and one thing I have loved and get asked about is: why do you always get dressed up for work? At my company, we have a very relaxed business casual dress code but I still choose to dress up even when I don’t have to. One thing I have noticed is that when I do dress up, even outside the office to work from home or for virtual meetings, I am 1. more confident in my work 2. way more productive.

For me, how I dressed has always been the main way I expressed myself. Thinking back to winning “Best Dressed” in middle school, it was so clear to me that when I dressed better, I felt more confident. Regardless of middle school bullies, awkward meetings with crushes and awful acne – very, very awful acne. The same is true now. When I feel good about my outfits, I spend less time worrying about how I look and more focused on how I can be better at my job that day and crushing my to-do list.

I’m sure we’ve all seen it, and maybe it has even has been us, the person presenting in a room who is clearly not comfortable in the clothing. They are pulling at their top or constantly fixing their hair or tapping their foot or showing other nervous ticks. Since I tend to shop for clothes after work, I’ll try to mimic some of my movements from the day in the dressing room to make sure my clothes are presenter worthy and bending over exposure proof. I also try to wear espadrilles with sandals in my purse to see how the outfit will look elevated and not elevated, then can decide if I’m comfortable enough wearing that clothing item to work only after being sure it won’t feel held back in some way wearing it.

In this case, I like to flip the narrative of loving clothes makes you selfish or vain or full of yourself to a way of self-expression and building your confidence. I 100% stand by the idea that what you’re wearing never changes who are you are but that your clothes can help shape how you and others see yourself. So next time you find yourself needing to be brave at work or feeling a little anxious about something new you are presenting, start with your best foot forward by preparing your words and preparing your outfit. Friends, that’s all that I have for today! As always, thank you for reading and for shopping my links on the blog! Everything I’m wearing is linked in the widgets above! Have a lovely weekend -xo, Azanique <3