Confidence by Melissa

image from CEEBEE

A friend directed me to this article a couple of weeks ago called “How to talk to little girls," and it changed the way I talk to all the adorable little girls I meet. The article says that the first thing little girls hear most often is how cute they are, and who can blame you when you see any adorable child. But, the author points out that “teaching girls that their appearance is the first thing you notice tells them that looks are more important than anything.” This got me thinking about what my dad would say every time I came downstairs in a prom dress, Sunday dress, dance costume, and when I stepped out in my wedding dress. He would say, “Melissa, it’s not the dress, it’s the girl in the dress.” But my dresses were so glamorous, so beautiful! Of course it was my dress!

It wasn’t until I sat sweating through my suit thinking about how I could impress the interviewer across from me for my future career that I realized:  It wasn’t my suit. It was the girl in the suit. What could I say to this woman to make her believe I would be a good candidate for her school? She had me on paper, all my grades, extracurriculars...everything. What else did she need? Me - who was the girl in the suit? Needless to say, I bombed that interview. My confidence had flown out the door right before I had stepped into her office. What was left was a Banana Republic pencil skirt with a feminine suit coat, black nylons, black kitten heels from Macy's, and Gap white button-down with a total dud standing in them.

As women we have so much to be confident in. I think many times the way we dress reflects the way we feel about ourselves, hope to feel about ourselves, or how we want others to perceive us. I think the most important thing we can do is dress to express who we are:  amazing well-rounded people who have much more to offer the world than our pretty faces. I know I dressed up when I went to take a hard exam. Expressing my confidence in how I dressed always helped me remember I was smart, I had studied, and, most importantly, I could do this. Now, I dress to express me - all of me. So, how do you dress up your confidence?