10 Ways You Can Express Your Individuality Every Day

Getting stuck in the day-to-day monotony and humdrum of everyday life is a trap that we all fall into. As adults, we tend to allow our unique qualities and quirks to fade into the background of our daily life, living in ways that leave us lackluster and without spark.

Why don’t we express ourselves?

As children, we are taught the importance of expressing ourselves. We are taught to know our favorite color, favorite animal, and favorite song at a young age, and we ingrain these things inside ourselves, allowing them to manifest into qualities that make us who we are.

However, as we grow up, we lose these qualities that make us unique.

We’re thrown into the world, often at an unforeseen time, without much warning or support, and we are supposed to find our way.

We take on responsibilities and challenges we didn’t have to face as children. We go to work every day, a place that tells us what and who to be. We are a part of a society and government that impresses certain characteristics upon us.

These systems we find ourselves in often eradicate our individuality and tell us who we should be, apart from ourselves.

How do we lose our self-expression?

The problem here is that this is unavoidable. As humans, we are naturally a part of communities. We join groups and systems because we see parts of ourselves in them, but some systems we become a part of out of necessity.

If your job has a certain work culture, in order to thrive and be successful, you must also adopt that culture. If your community holds certain qualities in high regard, in order to fit in and become a contributing member of a seamless society, you must assume these traits as well.

We lose our ability to self-express when we allow the communities and systems we are a part of to strip us of our individualism.

We grant our workplaces, communities, and social groups the ability to overpower our uniqueness and extract our individual qualities. We fade into the minutiae and lose the things that make us stand out from the rest of the crowd.  

Why is it important to express yourself?

Instead of disappearing, we need to find the things that make us unique and embrace those things.

It’s easy to forget what these characteristics are over the years, but if we take the time and exert the energy to discover them, we can realize and learn them once again.

It’s important to express yourself because you are unique and different than anyone else; you were not born to fit in and fade away, but to stand out and bring your uniqueness into the world.

How do you express your individuality?

While it’s easy to lose yourself as you grow up and expose yourself to the world and society’s agenda, you can reclaim yourself in many small ways. Small, manageable ways that are achievable and easy to execute.

Here are 10 ways you can express your individuality every day.

1. Get creative with your makeup

One of the easiest ways to express your individuality is through the art of makeup.

Whatever your personality is, the wide range of makeup products today allows you to wear who you are on your face in the form of colors, textures, and shades.

Of course, if you choose to express yourself without makeup, that is entirely up to you and that is a valid decision.

But if you do choose to express yourself with some color, pick what feels go and go with it, whether that is a bold lip or a glitter eyeshadow, a matte cheek, or a shimmery bronzer. Makeup offers you the ability to reveal who you are in a physical manifestation.

2. Fill your closet with your favorite colors

Clothing is an excellent outlet for self-expression, giving you the ability to express who you are and how you feel.

If you are a bold and outgoing person, you can wear colors and patterns that reflect that. If you are more serious and calm, you have the option of sports clothing that reveals that as well.

Find pieces of clothing that make you feel like you. Fill your closet with things that you love, things that bring you joy and make you feel as though you’re fully expressing yourself.

Allow yourself to wear whatever it is you feel like wearing, and give yourself the option to express who you are through your wardrobe.

3. Change your hair color

Depending on what you do for work, this is not always a viable option. Some workplaces have more strict regulations than others when it comes to natural and unnatural hair colors.

But if you have the option, and you have the desire, change your hair color.

You can go with a natural shade, like brown-red, or blonde, or you can go with a balayage, highlights, bright colors, or even multi-colors.

Have fun with it and give yourself the chance to embrace your personality through your hair color.

4. Pick a hairstyle that makes you feel like you

Similar to your hair color, you can express yourself through your hairstyle.

If you typically don’t put much time or effort into your hair, play around with it a little bit. Teach yourself how to French-braid, learn how to clip your hair up, straighten or curl it, tease it up, blow it out, or give yourself beach waves. Give yourself a half or full shave.

Explore the world of hairstyles and feel out some different ones. It’ll feel strange at first if you’re used to wearing your hair the same way every day but give it a chance.

Find a new style that feels like you. Find a style that portrays how you feel, and how you want others to perceive you.

5. Put stickers on your laptop, water bottle, bumper

This is an affordable and simple way to practice self-expression.

There are stickers for literally anything and everything. You can buy stickers that are The Office themed, stickers that depict college humor, feminism, Black Lives Matter, locations and hometowns, vacation spots, coffee shops, self-love and self-care, mental health, and whatever else you can think of.

Displaying stickers on your laptop, water bottle, car bumper, and whatever other surfaces you choose is a great way to show who you are and what you believe in. The great thing is that they’re not permanent, so if you get tired of certain stickers, you can remove them and start fresh.

6. Enhance your vocabulary

People tend to stick with words they’re familiar with. As we grow older and become more set in our ways, it’s unlikely that we’ll take the time to learn new verbiage and explore the world of diction.

However, adding new words and turns of phrase to your repertoire gives you the opportunity to express yourself with verbiage.

You can add color and spice to your vocabulary, and this reveals a little bit about who you are as a person. This allows you to explore who you are and express what it is you desire to express through words.

7. Paint your nails your favorite color (or get them done)

Fingernails are canvases just waiting to be utilized. They are blank slates that afford you the opportunity to express your individuality through color and style.

You can do your nails yourself or you can get them done professionally, depending on your budget, but either way, you can choose colors and patterns that portray your personality and unique qualities.

You can use acrylics, add jewels, shape them a certain way, use many different colors, choose matte or shine. Or you can go completely without any color, wearing your bare nails as a form of self-expression.

Choose something that feels good to you, and feel free to mix it up when you feel so inclined. The great thing about nails is that polish is not permanent, jewels and acrylics can be removed, and length can be trimmed. They are constantly growing, giving you the chance to redo them whenever you desire.

8. Put on lotion or perfume that smells good to you

You can easily express yourself through your chosen scent of perfume and lotion.

Depending on what you’re trying to exude, you can go with more woodsy smells, fruity scents, or clean and crisp aromas. You can go with a perfume that is more serious, or you can pick one that is fun and flirty.

You are not chained to whatever scent you choose. You can change it up on different days when you’re feeling different moods and wanting to express different things. Pick whatever smells good to you and mix it up when you’re in the mood for a change.

Your smell reveals who you are in a unique way, so take advantage of that as an outlet for self-expression.

9. Get a tattoo or piercing

While they are more permanent, tattoos and piercings and great ways to express yourself. If you feel especially strongly about something, you can get it permanently tattooed on your body, reflecting who you are and what you believe.

Piercings are of course not as permanent, and you can remove them if you feel so inclined. They are easy to undo, and they are fun ways to express yourself. Putting a stud in your nose, a hoop in your ear, or a piece of jewelry in your dimple allows you to mirror how you feel about yourself to those around you.

10. Join a group or organization that supports something you believe in

Take part in a physical thing you can actually do, in order to express who you are is to join a group that practices and carries out actions that you believe in. This could be a non-profit or a small social group, like a book club or a mom’s group.

You could join a non-profit that supports feminism, a cultural group, a volunteer organization, or a singles group that goes out for beers once a month. Whatever it is that feels true to you and who you are, find a family and join in.

The important thing to keep in mind is that while you’re joining a group or organization, you need to remain yourself and continue practicing your individualism while participating in the group.

Losing yourself is easy. Life gets in the way, adult responsibilities cloud us, and circumstances and situations dissolve who we are and force us behind the scenes in our own lives. However, with these 10 ways of self-expression, we can remember who we are and embrace our true selves on a regular basis.