#studiousmedic

hello !! This has taken me an age to reply to, but I’ve thought about it loads and I really just love talking about clothes! Also I just wanna preface this with saying that you absolutely don’t have to completely change your style to “dress like a grown up” - it’s all about just implementing a few things that’ll make the outfits you already have and wear into the outfits you wanna / feel like you should wear

I’m a big believer in keeping the basis of your outfit the same, but making small changes. No, not that “Add a sCARF !!!” pintrest bullshit (low key i love pintrest but it needs to stop with this shit). Say your go to outfit is a band tee, jeans, and vans. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, that’s a solid outfit. However, if you’re feeling like you wanna step up the “adult, professional and put together” factor, here is what I would do:

- Exchange band tee for either a plain tshirt or even a patterned blouse with a tshirt shape. I’m personally not a fan of patterned tshirts, or tshirts with stuff on them. Although if you wanna go for a more subtle graphic tee, go for it! I also think tshirt shaped blouses are amazing, because they’ve still got that kind of casual vibe that comes with a tshirt, but just stepped up a notch thanks to the fabric

- I’d personally wear a darker wash jean, just because I think that has a tendency to look more “adult”. Black jeans are also a go-to for me, although I am not a fan of rips or distressing, and I prefer a true black to a washed black

- Exchange the vans for something like a pair of boots, a ballet flat, loafers, brogues, you name it. If you’re into a heel, I think that looks amazing 98% of the time, but I get u, we have places to walk, they hurt, they have a tendency to make us fall over, so feel free to never go near a heel ever

Also, you can continue this mindset into outfits with more pieces as well. Usually go for something like a kanken backpack? (me too, i love them) To step it up, maybe try a plain black leather one instead. Wanna take your bottoms a step further than a dark wash jean? Get a pair of comfortable trousers in a nice fabric that makes you feel great about the way they make your body look. Hoodie feeling a bit dressed down compared to what you wanna go for? Try a nice knitted jumper, a cardigan, or even a soft blazer.

So that’s my main philosophy. If I look at my outfit and feel like it’s not quite as put together or dressed up as I would like, I try to think “What is one item that I could switch up to get it to the vibe I want?”.

However, another thing I think makes a great difference (as in the pictures above), is colour. I am very Scandinavian. I like my neutrals and my solid colours, and I feel like you have a lot better of a chance to look “put together” or “adult” or “more expensive”, depending on what you’re going for, if you pay a lot of attention to colour and pattern. Of course, this is even more “personal preference” than what I’ve talked about so far. Personally, I like neutrals (black, white, grey, navy, camel, and blush pink (which for me is nude because lol my skin tone)), as well as jewel tones. That’s what I vibe with. As for patterns, I love a good dark-base-floral, and I’m slowly opening up to other patters (although usually only in neutrals).

A lot of the time my entire outfit will be a combination of solid neutrals. But if I wanna go for a print or a colour, I usually make sure that that piece is the only non-solid-neutral one. That’s because I’m not a huge fan of busy outfits, and I usually think that the busier your outfit is, the more difficult it is to make it seem “put together” and “adult”. This also goes for things like ripped / distressed jeans, accessories etc. I wear my belt if necessary, a scarf if I’m cold, and the same watch, couple of rings, and dainty hoop earrings every day.

I will say it again though, you don’t have to give up your personal style. You really love your band tees? Amazing, keep wearing them! Still want to make your outfit more “adult”? Maybe pair them with a pair of trousers, boots, possibly a blazer. (little anecdote: i have a white blouse with bright pink flamingos on that i for some reason adore. one of my favourite outfits i’ve worn it in was pairing it with my black suit (quite modern trousers, but trousers and blazer all the same) and white trainers. a great balance of oooooo fun print, but super traditional suit/shirt combo, casual-ed down by the trainers) There is definitely a way to work “your style” which for me is more about “oh my god i love this piece and want to wear it all the time” into the whole “adult, professional, put together” thing.

Idek man this is so long and it’s before 10 am on a bank holiday. Am I even making sense? Who knows. But that’s my two (thousand) cents and I hope maybe it was helpful ?? Maybe ???

The dress is beautiful!!! Also what stain/counter stain are you using for your sections?

thank you!!!

Sometimes it’s not about slowing things down necessarily, it’s about riding things out in a more controlled way - like accepting that you will have duvet days every now and then but knowing that they are generally self limiting and there are things you can do to really rest and recuperate without letting it get really bad, like enforcing a study curfew (my technique of choice). You have more control over this than it feels like lovely.

Aha I remember I made a PowerPoint presentation to my parents when I was younger as part of a campaign to get more allowance �� power points need to be incorporated into daily life more often

Unfortunately a lot of it is trial and error I think, at least it has been for me - but think of all the people who are so set in their ways that they refuse to change even if there is the possibility for something even better than what they have, this is your opportunity to really reap the benefits from all this work, to find what fits you and make the most of your talents. Three days out of a half term is basically nothing, and if it's what you need to keep feeling human, you do you.

Time spent not studying is most definitely not time wasted! You need that time to grow and rejuvenate and make the most of the effort you put in - that's why we sleep, to give our brains time to rest and replenish and there is no reason why our bodies shouldn't be the same. I think you are doing tremendously well and I wish you could see that yourself

I’m not refusing to change, at least I’d like to think I’m not, I’m just very stubborn in moving from my ways. I just always have that thing where I could be doing something more productively and it took an entire year’s worth of work with my old therapist to turn that could from a should. As in, I should being doing more work, to I could be doing more work. So I guess that’s some progress.

I literally don’t know how to slow down though? I don’t know what slow is, until I’m at a breaking point like the last couple of days where I’ve just been curled up under my duvet wanting things to go away? It’s either that or I’m on full intensity studying, and I don’t know where that halfway point is. I don’t know if it’s just I’m a high stress person and I need to be doing something every minute of the day that’s productive or I feel awful, or something in my thought process is going wrong... I can’t seem to validate my previous successes because I hardly have anything to show for them?

studiousmedic said:Oh hun things sound really tough right now, please please come and talk to me if you need to vent ❤️ I'm so proud of you, you've come so far even though I know it doesn't feel that way. I know it's hard to be kind to yourself but imagine this was happening to a friend, and treat yourself the way you would them, if you can xx