I joined a February Authentic Fashion challenge! It’s already helping me feel more me, more alive, more like I’m answering my call. I think it’ll help you find your calling, too. What’s fashion got to do with career fulfillment?
My friend and fellow coach, Sarah Bamford Seidelman, started posting Instagram fashion selfies a couple of months ago. She’d drop little captions about her quest to discover her authentic style. At first, I thought “that’s cool.” It was fun to witness her fashion surprises and rule-breaking.
Sarah is a medical doctor turned shamanic healer. I interviewed her a few years ago about her journey to find her calling. You can watch or read it here.
Sarah’s posts got me thinking about my own style or lack thereof, something I rarely consider. I surprised myself and joined her Authentic Fashion February. It’s comprised of a private Facebook group with daily selfies (no comments allowed), a book recommendation (The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees), and weekly assignments.
One of our first prompts? Look back on a time when our look garnered attention and how we reacted to it. I recall getting way more spotlight to my curves than I was ready for, at a very young age. Maybe that’s what kicked off my detachment from style and fashion, and decades-long trend of wearing dark shapeless solid tops. Not exactly an authentic fashion choice, is it?
The truth is, I’ve been playing small.
Camouflage. Not the pattern. I mean, hiding. For the most part my style has been dark neutral solid colors in shapes that hide. I haven’t been enjoying the creativity of self-expression. Or dressing in a way that’s representative of my truest self, or even looking very good.
My words and actions are authentic representations, and an integral part of a personal brand. But by holding back with my creative personal style, I shortchanged the opportunity for a more aligned visual brand. But more importantly, I cheated myself of the full energy of self-expression, of showing up in the world.
We’re only a week into Authentic Fashion February, but I’m already emboldened. I imagine a style much more aligned with my inner identify and experiment with what that might look like.
I wonder. How much hiding has affected my work and the impact I have on helping people heal the way they work. How much my fashion fear has hindered my own career fulfillment.
Authentic fashion and career fulfillment.
I wouldn’t dream of coaching anyone on their fashion. The only fashion advice I offer is don’t wear jangly, distracting jewelry to a job interview.
But let’s look your personal brand? I’m talking your visual style, your fashion, yeah.
But let’s not stop there.
How are you showing up in your appearance, words, your actions, the way you talk about yourself and your work?
How have you been presenting yourself in all these forms?
Does it feel authentic?
Are you holding back in some ways, like I’ve been?
Are you “wearing” a persona that’s felt safe or acceptable or expected by others … but might not actually represent YOU?
The most important question I want to ask you is this one:
Is the work you do and the way you do it authentic to you?
You’ll know it’s authentic if it:
- feels aligned with your values
- creates a sense of freedom and liberation
- adds fulfillment to your daily life
If there’s room for more fulfillment in your world, I invite you to explore whether your work is really YOU, the whole you, the best you, the big version of you that’s called?
An Authentic Fulfillment February, if you will.
As of this recording, we’re only on day 5 of AFF. I already sense big shifts happening with how I see myself and how I self-express.
I’m getting excited about my new grey streaks in my hair, about new ways to tie a scarf, and layering colors and prints in whole new ways that feel more like ME.
But most importantly, I feel myself pulled – called, you might say – to show up more authentically. To be more creative, bigger, and whole in my work and life, that I didn’t even realize were lurking within my camouflaged smaller self.
Now I turn to you. How are you showing up, now, and what might be even more authentic in your style, your personal brand, and that part of your life that claims 35% – your work?
Want support with finding your purpose, surviving and even thriving during the 90,000 hours of your life that you spend at work? Let’s chat. jennifershryock.com/discoverycall
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