What's style got to do with it?

So fashion...is going to make you be a better teacher... Okay. Sure.

(Spoiler: it is!)

It's summer, and if there's one thing about summer for me, it's that I am not thinking about teaching. But yet, here I am, burnt-out as ever, thinking (some may even say fantasizing?) about next year. WHY? Good question.

When I ran cross country back in the day, I'll never forget my coach's words before a big meet: Look good, feel good, race good. For now, let's ignore the grammatical issues there and focus on the message. He wasn't telling us that we had to do a full face of glam or get the newest Nikes to get a fast time. He was instilling in us this idea of a term called "enclothed cognition." USA Lacrosse Magazine breaks it down here:

Enclothed cognition is the influence that clothing — what you are wearing or what someone else may be wearing — has on a person’s emotions. Clothes have a symbolic meaning, and a person can have different physical experiences with different articles of clothing.

Photo by Alyssa Strohmann on Unsplash

Now, that might sound incredibly vain or materialistic to you, but for me, it stuck. For me, it embodied more so the idea of self care. If I showed up to a race disheveled, missing a hair tie, and with mismatching socks, I would feel as unprepared as if I hadn't trained well the week before the race.

Instead, I would lay out my matching Walmart socks the night before. I put my hair in the French-braid pigtails I felt confident in, including the purple ribbons. I didn't wear makeup or have special running-gear, but I held my head up high. I walked to the line with good posture and strangely, a smile.

And most of the time, I raced well.

How I'm Transferring This Idea to Teaching

Last year, I wasn't "looking good, feeling good, [teaching] good." I was showing up to work after setting my alarm 15 minutes before I had to leave. Some days, I wore "cute" outfits -- most, I tried to hide the fact that I was wearing leggings or that it was the fourth day in a row wearing the same Target sweater. I never did my hair. I rarely wore nothing more than a swipe of mascara.

And that's okay. I was in survival mode last year, like so many of us were. I showed up for my students, did what I needed to do, and went home.

I've convinced myself that this year will be different. If I have self-care systems in place, excitement about the shoes I'm wearing, some curls in my hair, I'm convinced I'll show up ready to ̶r̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ teach well.

So this summer, I'm planning ahead. I'll be creating outfits in advance and sharing them here. I'm excited!

Silly? Smart? Millennial AF? Let me hear!

What do you think about this idea?

• It's silly! Good luck with that...
• I'm intrigued / inspired to do the same!