Elevating the Everyday

Hi everyone!

Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week. We are in the midst of a heat wave, so I am doing my best to say cool, ice cream always helps!

I have been doing my best to get outdoors as much as I can.

Today’s post is all about being intentional with our time, words, actions, and items.

One of my new year’s goals was to be intentional and work on elevating my every day style.

Now, what does this mean? It means going the extra mile or taking a few more minutes to make every day a little bit more meaningful or refining my look before I head out the door.

I have really been trying to make my days more meaningful and trying to use more of what I have and not saving things for the right moment or right time.

For example, I wear my Apple Watch every day. A few years ago, I purchased decorative watch straps to wear instead of the generic solid rubber ones. I bought a leather and metal one to dress up my watch, but I never wore them. Now, I make it a point to wear them every day to work. If I am wearing black or gold or leather, I will wear one band and if I’m wearing metals or silvers, I will wear the other band. I still wear the sporty one when I am home or working out, but when I go into work, I wear the decorative band to elevate my style. It may take a few minutes to swap them, but I feel more put together with a decorative band. 

Another way I have been working on elevating my every day style is by putting more care into my appearance and using and wearing the good things. I dress up to go into work every day and I wear jewelry every day, even wearing my good jewelry to dress up an outfit. What’s the point of having nice jewelry, like a pair of pearls, if you only wear them once a year and the rest of the year they just sit in the drawer? I also make it a point to use the products and makeup I have, instead of buying new ones. I have dozens of lip liners, but never wore them because I didn’t know how to properly apply them. I watched some tutorials and learned some tricks and now I apply lip liner every day for work. I learned a new skill and I’m using the products I have. The same goes for travel or sample items, rather than save them, I will use them during a trip or right away. This way I am using a product and I am testing new things out.

One way I have been trying to be more intentional with my time is by building more breathing room in my day to day schedule. I used to pack my schedule to the brim, but I found myself being stressed, overwhelmed, and multitasking. I wasn’t being intentional with my time and not giving my full attention to one thing. Now, I try to keep my schedule more open when I can, and I will build in time for one thing, whether it’s reading, a walk, or getting a task done. I have found myself more present in the moment and I am more focused on the task at hand.

I also try to use the good things or reusable items instead of fast items on the go. I drink tea every morning and at night and I’ll make it a point to use an actual coffee cup or a travel mug as opposed to a disposable one. This is a small swap, but one that makes a difference. A little way I am putting more time in my day.

I love to go on walks every day, especially on the weekends, I used to multitask when walking by responding to emails or texts, now when I am on a walk, I am intentional by taking in the place that I am walking or I take a phone call and I’m paying attention to the conversation and not juggling two things at once. Another small way that I am carving out intentional time.

I have been really trying hard to be purposeful with my time, energy and talents. These are just a few ways that I have been trying to incorporate it with my daily life.

Have you thought about how you want to try to elevate your every day life? What ways have you tried to make it happen? I would LOVE to know. Happy Wednesday! I’ll see you back here on Friday for another round up.