Now that it’s the middle of the semester, you’ve probably worn all of your cute fall outfits and are sick of the QU weekend routine. Classes are starting to feel like a distraction from all of the other productive things you could be doing, and you’d go on a date with Flava Flav if it meant you could get a home cooked meal.
The solution? Take a page out of Madonna’s book and change things up whenever you get the chance.
When you’re in a rut and need a surge of energy, there’s nothing better than giving yourself a quick makeover, on the inside and the out.You could go with the classic dye-job, a common symptom of female PTSD (i.e. Carrie Bradshaw’s new brown hair after Big ditched the wedding), but there are other ways tochange it up that don’t involve damaging your hair.An important disclaimer: don’t lose yourself in the process! Reinventing yourself is simply a way to give yourself something to be excited about. If you’re lucky, you may even find yourself mid-revolution.
1. Step out of your comfort zone. Exciting in theory but scary as hell in reality, immersing yourself in anything that kind of freaks you out is the perfect place to start. Little things like moving to the front of your weekly Zumba class or swapping your morning coffee for a cup of tea can give you a whole new perspective. Just the thought of “Hmmm, maybe I don’t care who sees my awkward Zumba moves,” or “Maybe I don’t rely on coffee as much as I thought,” can be subtly liberating.
2. Watch a makeup tutorial and try out a new look before heading to class. Altering your makeup routine during the week is a great way to test out how different variations look on you. Attempting a daring new makeup style on the weekends can go array because you may not be sure if you like it, and 1. Instagram photos are forever and 2. People are focusing much more on your appearance on Saturday night than during class. Rocking a full out smoky eye to Bio would be weird, but winging out your eyeliner or trying a bold lip color can do wonders for your boring morning routine. Once you have it down, show off your cosmetic-genius side that very weekend.
3. Draw inspiration from an icon. Monroe, Hepburn, Loren, Taylor….take your pick. I believe there’s an
eternal connection between young women and these perpetually beautiful leading ladies. We idolize them for reasons we may not even understand – so why not steal some of their head-turning attributes while we’re at it? Maybe you want to rock a pin-up girl look like Marilyn or pull back your hair like Audrey. You can show off your bling like Elizabeth or pull off a head wrap like Sofia. There’s no better way to radiate confidence and strength than to channel it through some of the most notable and talented women of all time, and make it your own.
4. Try a new recipe. Is baking brownies your specialty? Take a night to make your own pizza or venture to the BBQ. Expanding your skill set is a huge part of reinventing yourself…and who says you can’t eat a kick-ass dinner in the process? Once you get the recipe just right, write it down and keep it for future reference. Not only are you keeping the recipe so that you can duplicate it another day, but you’re reminding yourself of something you created and that you can provide for yourself in ways you hadn’t imagined before.
5. Release your anger. To paraphrase (and hopefully not butcher) a quote I see on Pinterest all the time: I’ve never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. The act of smiling, even if it’s not authentic, releases endorphins and tricks your mind into feeling happy. It’s difficult to be relaxed when we have so much going on around campus, at home, and everywhere in between, but doing so could lead to the best
reinvention of your life. Go to kickboxing class, sit down with a glass of wine, weed out the toxic people in your life, and have a smile on your face the whole time. There’s a good chance that after a while, that smile will be authentic, and you’ll hold a lot less on your shoulders than you did before.
These are all easier said than done – so don’t let that fear of failure or judgment get in the way. Reinventing yourself is all about doing things that you wouldn’t normally do – or that the old you wouldn’t do. Taking chances are scary, but it’s scarier to look back and realize that you didn’t take any chances.