Jonny Wilkinson, self-esteem and image

Train journeys can be wonderful - they allow you to escape from 'work' and to relax a bit and be more observant. I firmly believe that we are given opportunities, even an hour and a half on a train can enable you to think more deeply. You can forget all the things you 'ought' to do !

And so it was that last week on just such a train journey I opened the newspaper. I rarely read the sports pages but my eye was taken by this:

'Keeping the faith. That's what counts. Holding true to what matters is the key to a decent and meaningful life.' Simon Barnes in the Times was writing about the rugby player Jonny Wilkinson. In the article he went on to describe how 'keeping the faith' when things go wrong is difficult - whatever the faith is. It is so easy to give up on oneself but like Jonny Wilkinson, who has been bedevilled with injury, we must keep the faith in ourselves going.

Jonny's coach is Steve Black who for his mantra follows the words of Ghandi 'be the change you wish to see in the world'. Jonny feels that his first meeting with Steve was a turning point for him.

So why was I taken by this article when I am an image consultant? What on earth has all this got to do with image and looking stylish?

Well, I believe we can all learn a lot from this. What can you learn from this personal story of Jonny Wilkinson?

If we keep faith with ourselves, our self esteem will be high. High self esteem is reflected by your overall appearance and noticeable by others in how you dress and your overall body language. So keeping faith with your principles, believing in yourself will enable you to 'be the change you wish to see in the world'.

If this doesn't feel like you just now then do think about having an image consultation. Join the many who have learned how to look good on the outside and feel absolutely great on the inside. I guarantee that once this happens life will be so much more worth living. If you feel great then you tend to find that you are also surrounded by people who feel great too. Look for your own Jonny Wilkinson moment!

An edgy autumn look?

Fancy updating your look for autumn? How about some boots, trousers and a jacket?

If you can't see yourself in the thigh boots that we're told are just the thing, then think about some shoe boots. It sounds as if the weather might be cold and wet so they'll meet these challenges. There's a lot of variety out there so you'll be able to find a pair to suit your colouring, style and personality.

This one's in Topshop.


How about teaming this with a great pair of cropped trousers. There are some great pairs around that will go with the boots. Have a look at the ones in Reiss and Coast for some ultra smart ones that would be great.


Then complete the look with a jacket. The short legged amongst us will do well to go for a short or cropped jacket. Depending on your body shape and how dramatic you want to be, work out just how much you want to embrace the 'shoulders'.

How about doing some virtual shopping before you hit the shops. Don't forget to look at the fashion in the newspapers as well as in your favourite online stores.

So boots, trousers, jacket - a great look combined like this and also as a core around which to add pieces from your current wardrobe and add to later in the season. Treat yourself. You'll look current and feel great about yourself.

Being visible

We're told that 67% of us don't like what we see when we look in a mirror. So, it's not surprising that so many of us just don't want to be noticed. If we are not confident in our appearance then what follows is that we are not confident inside either. If this happens then you are likely to fit into the 'glass half empty' rather than the 'glass half full' group. In other words being a bit of a pessimist rather than an optimist. It's also not much fun being surrounded by pessimists.

Does this sound familiar? Do you tend to wear 'baggy' clothes? Are you without a full length mirror at home? Do you wear mainly black? Do you have a full wardrobe but nothing to wear?If you answer yes to any of these then , yes, you probably do prefer to be invisible.

Well, let's see how you can like how you look. It only takes 3 steps!

1. Decide you would like to be confident and visible (for the right reasons), even admired.

2. Accept the fact that you can look good with the body you have now.

3. Decide to visit an experienced image consultant who will be prepared to really listen to your needs and work with you to enable you to look fantastic. Not just on one occasion, but each day.

Once you've taken these first 3 steps, you'll have started your journey. Knowing you look good on the outside, you'll feel great on the inside too. You'l find that life will then be so much more fun too as optimists tend to attract optimists!

exercise and a new you

The papers seem full of 'exercise' at the moment. I am not a gym person and quite liked some of the ideas for alternatives eg. walking. Ramblers seem to be offering a 12 week(free) Get Walking, Keep Walking plan and you can do 3 trial walks before deciding whether to join them. www.ramblers.org.uk. But the one that really appealed to me was the idea of Green Gyms, these are run by BTCV ( who used to be called British Trust for Conservation Volunteers). There are 100 of these green gyms around the country , they meet for up to 4 hours and have a break for a tea and more chat. ( www.btcv.org.uk). There are several groups in Staffordshire and Cheshire.
Then today I see an article on 'The great gym myth'. In summary, research into obesity is showing that the benefits of exercise for weight loss have been overstated. Some interesting reading (Times 19.10.09:Exercise? A fat lot of good that is if you want to lose weight.' I love a few raisins for a 'healthy' snack but the article tells me that it takes 21 minutes of aerobics to use up those 123 claories. The theme of the article is to watch what you are eating when thinking body size.
It all goes to show that we need to dress for the body we have, not the one we hope to have. That way whe can look good and feel great on the inside every day. There's no need to wait until we have the body that we dream of, it might take a long time. We might as well be happy every day.

Don't forget to watch Gok on Tuesday at 8pm. He's working with a 37 year old paramedic.

my first image blog

Welcome to the first entry to my blog. I'm really looking forward to this as I do enjoy writing and I also enjoy being an image consultant- I think it is THE best job in the world.
So why have I started this? there are several reasons really. So here are some of them- not in any special order! I want to keep more in touch with my many clients and enable them to find out what's going on in the image and fashion world. I want to be able to pass on hints and tips to more of you than the ones I meet to chat to. At the moment one of you might ask me a question and I reply but I know there are several of you out there who would like to know the answer. So do let me know what you want to know about and I will try and include that in future entries. Also I know there are several of you out there who are not my clients and might have the impression that Image Consultants are for the rich and famous. Well you couldn't be more wrong. Just think about it- how you look is your shop window to the world. Is your appearance saying what you want it to? It's a bit like an iceberg. We see a tiny bit but there is so much more that we don't see- we make assumptions and these could be so wrong!
I've just read this amazing advert- from American Express I think . It goes like'Impossible is 2 letters too long for us'. How about making that your tip for today. 'Impossible is just 2 letters too long for improving how I look and feel.'