When you look good, you feel good. It’s an age old expression that many of us live by. Putting some effort into our appearance can help us to have a more positive outlook on life feel better about ourselves. That improved attitude is a brilliant way to achieve your goals in life, but how exactly does it work? What is the psychology behind looking good to feel good?
Self-Esteem
One thing that so many people struggle with is their self-esteem. Not having pride in yourself and believing in yourself can be a huge hurdle in life but putting taking pride in the way that you look is a great way to combat this. Your self-esteem is linked to so many important aspects of your life including your emotions, thought processes, your values, your goals and your relationships. Having low self-esteem will seriously damage your potential. Having higher self-esteem also affects the way that you interact with other people. Studies suggest that you’ll be far nicer to people and build more meaningful relationships. You may have things like scars or blemishes on your skin that you are self-conscious about so getting rid of them or covering them with makeup can give you a serious boost. But you don’t need to do anything that drastic. Even if you just browse for dresses and buy yourself a few nice outfits, it can make no end of difference to your confidence. When you look in the mirror and you know that you look great, you know that other people will think the same and it’ll greatly increase your self-esteem.
Social Skills
Social interactions are one of the most important factors in a healthy life. Without meaningful social encounters on a regular basis, people can start to feel lonely. Lots of mental health issues are massively increased by feelings of loneliness and isolation so it’s important that you are socializing often. People make judgments about others based on the way that they look so if you feel self-conscious about your appearance, you are likely to worry about how others perceive you. This means that you will be far more inclined to avoid social interactions altogether. Avoiding social interactions will make it far more difficult to make friendships and find relationships. This will have far reaching negative effects on all aspects of your life.
Emotional Health
Feeling better about your outward appearance is often the first step to feeling better on the inside. If you are unhappy with the direction of your life and you want to make some big changes; altering your appearance and giving yourself a new look is a simple change that you can make, but it has a lot of symbolic significance. It marks a turning point in your life and can be the beginning of a drastic reinvention of yourself. Throwing out old outfits and replacing them with new ones can be a great symbolic gesture that represents leaving that part of your life behind and starting a new chapter.
Looking good is the first step to making drastic positive changes in your life.
