In my first book, Lessons from Madame Chic, one of my favorite chapters discusses how we should live life as a formal affair. In today's video, we explore how living life as a formal affair can improve our health, style, and more.
1. Living a formal life helps you maintain a healthy weight
If you think about the actions of a very casual life, you might picture someone in sweat pants sitting on the sofa, binge watching tv and mindlessly eating chips out of the bag, or ice cream out of the container. While this might feel comfortable, this mindless and informal behavior over time can be detrimental to your health. You aren’t paying attention to what you’re eating or what you’re doing and you are prone to overeating and gaining weight over time. When life is a formal affair, you snack less and enjoy your meals at designated meal times while sitting down to a well-set table. This allows you to remain present and notice what you’re eating. You’re likelier to eat healthier meals because of this, and have a more conscious experience.
2. Living a formal life keeps you stylish
When you become accustomed to a more casual life, your style gets casual too. Just look at popular culture… as time goes on we all get more casual and comfortable. It’s a gradual adjustment but when I was growing up, it was rare to see people outside in sweats and pajamas and now it’s commonplace. Look up images of how people used to travel on airplanes and compare that to what you see in the airport today. When you live a more formal life, you tend to still dress up on a regular basis. You don’t have the mindset that wearing day clothes is uncomfortable. Rather, you would become uncomfortable if you weren’t appropriately dressed. The thought of going out in public in tattered sweats would horrify you.
3. Living a formal life keeps your mind sharp
Living a more formal life beckons you to learn more than consume. Watching entertainment on tv or at the movies definitely has its place. But as society has become more casual, more people find themselves wasting vast amounts of time binge-watching tv shows or channel surfing and consuming content that they’re not even that thrilled about. When you begin to live a more formal life, you become interested in expanding your mind and learning more about topics that interest you. This is why I run my Chic Assignments, which encourage us to step out of ourselves and immerse ourselves in the arts each month. There’s nothing wrong with letting loose and relaxing in front of the TV but when you begin to live a more formal life, you aren’t really attracted to spending your time like that anymore. You start to listen to audio books while doing housework. You enroll in courses online. You turn your traffic commute into a university where you stretch yourself to learn.
4. Living a formal life helps you keep good manners. As society becomes more casual, so do our manners… Have you notice that? Civility has declined in recent years. Tempers are high and fuses are short. When you slow down and live a more conscious and formal life, you are more apt to care about behavior and decorum and keep good manners and etiquette a top priority for you. If you haven’t already seen my video about remaining unbothered, I highly recommend you watch it. As we go through life we are going to encounter difficult people and situations. How we react to these situations is everything. The person who lives a more formal life employs restraint and calls upon proper etiquette. If everyone did this, wouldn’t everyday life be so much more pleasant?
5. Living a formal life keeps your space clutter-free I recently did a video sharing the Madame Chic Method for living in a clutter-free home. If your surroundings are formal, you are likely to notice unsightly clutter more. More casual environments can attract clutter because, hey! Anything goes! But in a formal environment, you are attuned to living in a beautiful space and are more likely to sort through your cluttered zones on a regular basis.
📍The Ten-Item Wardrobe eCourse is newly updated and back online with all new video, text, and new lessons. If you have previously purchased the ten-item wardrobe eCourse, you can access all of the new changes for free.
📍If you are looking for more content, consider becoming a member of The Daily Connoisseur through the Channel Memberships. In The Chic Society, I publish one vodcast every Friday and do one livestream or zoom call once a month. It only costs $1.99 a month. There are also upper tiers available for people who are interested in supporting the channel on a higher level and receiving monthly mentions in the videos. *NEW* We now have a penpal program too!
SandyLight writes, "I've been a member/subscriber for almost two years now, and I only just recently started to dive into the blog. I'd watch the videos on YouTube and click the various links from there, but the blog posts are so convenient and beautifully put together. Everything is in one spot: recipes, links to videos, links and codes for fashion and various products, beautiful pictures, links to poetry and other interesting reads, your written musings and more. I just love this blog. Thank you for all of your hard work on it! Its my home page now. :)"
Sandy, thank you so much! I'm happy you're enjoying the blog. Encouraging comments like that keep me going. Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed today's video. I would love to know how living life as a formal affair has benefited you. Thank you and see you soon! Love, Jennifer
NEW* Join The Chic Society on YouTube and become a member of The Daily Connoisseur.
The picture of you on the couch with the Cheez-Its made me laugh out loud! Thank you as my day had started out badly, so I needed that.
I wish there was a way to have your subject matter required in schools. I was at the grocery store earlier this week and came across a young lady with (you guessed it) the yoga pants outfit and wait for it....socks with puffy slippers. All I could think was, "You couldn't even bother to put on sneakers? Really? REALLY?!" Maybe she had a foot condition that didn't allow her to wear proper shoes...
All I know is I'm 50 years old and am really starting to worry that this generation is going to be in charge when I'm wearing a diaper. it's frightening.
I have three boys (ages 7, 12, and 14) and we have been reading a portion of Connoisseur Kids each Monday as part of our homeschool this school year. My kids love styling a lovely table setting. They have watched YouTube videos on napkin folding and worked to perfect their own napkin folds. They have learned table setting placement as well. Thank you for this book that helps me remind my children that, yes, even a house full of boys can have some style and etiquette. Tisha (Alabama)
Jennifer L. Scott is the New York Times bestselling author of Lessons from Madame Chic, At Home with Madame Chic and Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic
, click here →
Social
This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and analyze traffic. Your IP address and user-agent are shared with Google along with performance and security metrics to ensure quality of service, generate usage statistics, and to detect and address abuse.
The blogposts you read may contain affiliate links, which means if you purchase through my links I may receive a very small amount of the sale. This doesn't change the price you pay. I am affiliate with Amazon's Affiliate program, as well as others. Thank you for your support!
3 comments:
Jennifer,
The picture of you on the couch with the Cheez-Its made me laugh out loud! Thank you as my day had started out badly, so I needed that.
I wish there was a way to have your subject matter required in schools. I was at the grocery store earlier this week and came across a young lady with (you guessed it) the yoga pants outfit and wait for it....socks with puffy slippers. All I could think was, "You couldn't even bother to put on sneakers? Really? REALLY?!" Maybe she had a foot condition that didn't allow her to wear proper shoes...
All I know is I'm 50 years old and am really starting to worry that this generation is going to be in charge when I'm wearing a diaper. it's frightening.
I have three boys (ages 7, 12, and 14) and we have been reading a portion of Connoisseur Kids each Monday as part of our homeschool this school year. My kids love styling a lovely table setting. They have watched YouTube videos on napkin folding and worked to perfect their own napkin folds. They have learned table setting placement as well. Thank you for this book that helps me remind my children that, yes, even a house full of boys can have some style and etiquette. Tisha (Alabama)
Absolutely loved this! I'm guilty of eating my supper on a tray in front of the tv. You've inspired me to do better, thank you x
Post a Comment