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Written By: DiveThru Team

Reviewed By: Natalie Asayag MSW, LCSW

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Feeling Extravagant: A Guide to Your Emotions

PUBLISHED Apr 16th, 2021 & UPDATED ON Nov 30th, 2022

Extravagant. What comes to mind when you think of that word? Extraaaaavagant. Some of us might picture an 80-year-old woman in a massive fur coat walking down the streets of New York, adorned in jewellery that we could never afford. Her apartment is the epitome of maximalism and she looks like she could throw money into the fireplace to keep herself warm and not miss it. Ugh. Wouldn’t that be nice!?

To others, extravagance might mean indulging in something that makes them feel good! This could mean getting dressed up in your nicest clothes and going out for dinner to celebrate anything or nothing! It might mean having a fun night in with your friends and laughing so hard that your face hurts. 

But what does this feeling mean to you?  You’ve clicked on this article so you’re feeling extravagant in some kind of way. Honestly, we love that for you! So let’s take this moment to examine this emotion (extravagantly of course). 

A Deeper Look at Feeling Extravagant

Let’s take a look at some synonyms of extravagant to get a better understanding of the emotion itself: absurd, bizarre, flashy, lavish, ostentatious, showy, costly, fanciful. 

So many of the synonyms for extravagance are related to wealth and money. Even one of the definitions on Dictionary.com talks about how being extravagant is equivalent to wasting money: “spending much more than is necessary or wise; wasteful.” But we actually prefer this definition instead: “exceeding the bounds of reason, as actions, demands, opinions, or passions.” 

Feeling extravagant doesn’t always have to feel like you’re being lavish and living in luxury 24/7. It can just mean indulging in something that brings you happiness. One of our favourite examples of this is these best friends who love pink and yellow soooo much that they’ve incorporated it into every aspect of their world! That’s so cute and very extravagant in our opinion. They’re following their passions and going above and beyond to find something that brings them joy!

You don’t have to have tons of money or spend tons of money to feel extravagant. That idea is hella classist! Feeling extravagant can come in the form of having a nice bath and a glass of wine, or splurging and ordering in dinner one night instead of cooking it. Wherever this feeling comes from, chase it! You don’t have to be that lavish woman living in New York to make this happen. It can come from small things in your life that make you feel fine af. 

How Extravagance Shows Up Mentally

When you feel extravagant, you know that you’re the baddest bitch that ever walked this earth. Your shoes hit the ground, and the ground says “Thank you for walking on me.” You flip your hair and the wind says “Thank you for creating me.” There is unbridled confidence that comes with the territory of extravagant. You know that because you feel amazing! 

  • Confidence
  • Pride
  • Self-assurance
  • Increased self-worth 
  • Happiness

You are revelling in the world that you’ve created. Everything seems brighter, feels better, sounds more beautiful, and hell, it even smells better! Why? Because you’re following what makes you happy! With great pleasure comes greatly increased mental health. 

How Extravagance Shows Up Physically 

Extravagance doesn’t always have to do with the kind of clothes you wear or what you purchase. It can come from your attitude too. If you want to feel extravagant in some fancy frocks, go to town! Do what makes you feel good! Maybe you’re simply feeling fine as fuck today with no extra help from the clothes you’re wearing. Either way, this is how you’re physically radiating your extravagance to the rest of the world: 

  • Increased performance 
  • Increased energy 
  • More likely to stay hydrated and nourished
  • Improved sleep
  • More likely to perform self-care

You feel confident and relaxed knowing that you are here to rock everyone’s world in the best kind of way! You feel confident and content with who you are, so obviously feeling amazing leads to amazing things! You’re killin’ it at your job, you’re feeling pumped and excited to live your life, and you’re sleeping well because of it! It’s allllllll coming up roses for you now!

5 Ways to Embrace Feeling Extravagant

You deserve to feel like this all the time! Why? Because why wouldn’t you want to? Are you a Greek statue carved from marble? Maybe! You feel that good! We’re going to give you a few tips on how to embrace this feeling so that the good vibes keep coming your way: 

1. Journal

Write about how you’re feeling and why you’re feeling this way. The more attention you give to this emotion, the more it can grow. So write about it all! If you’re ever not feeling as extravagant as you are today, you can always return to this journal entry to remind yourself that you ARE in fact deserving of this emotion. 

2. Visualize Your Happy Place

When you visualize your happy place when you’re in a good headspace, the more positive emotions will be associated with it. When you’re eventually not in a good headspace and need to go to your happy place for some peace, you’ll have this badass energy waiting there to help pick you up too. 

3. Practice Gratitude

Practicing gratitude for the things in your life can bring about so much positive energy! It’s wild! So, to help cultivate your gratitude and extravagance, you can start off being grateful for all the good emotions and feeling that you’re experiencing today. From there, you can be grateful for yourself, then your friends, then more and more and more! Start inward and work outward. 

4. Connect with a Friend

Have the good vibes flow between the two of you! The more positive energy there is, the more you’ll create. Sometimes, we just need a friend to celebrate the wins with us and have a fun time! So, call up your bestie and let the world know how badass the two of you are!

5. Meditate

Sometimes it benefits us to sit with an emotion for a bit and learn more about ourselves in the silence. Meditating on the emotion of extravagance also allows us to learn more about that feeling, and teach us to access it whenever we want! 

 

There you have it! We don’t really need to give you any more advice because you’re already “feeling your oats” as Gian Gunn would say. So go feel them, sew them, eat them! Do whatever you want today because you’re extravagant af, baby!

 

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