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I am anxiously awaiting a t-shirt in the mail.

Not some new Chill the Duck Out merch. Not company swag. A gift from my boss, which is already a great sentence, but it gets better.

The shirt is from the Worm Gruntin' Festival in Sopchoppy, Florida.

Yes, Sopchoppy is a real place. Yes, the Worm Gruntin' Festival is a real event. And yes, I will be wearing this shirt with tremendous pride, despite my inability to worm grunt… grunt for worms. I’m not exactly sure what the right terminology is, but I'm adding a link below because you absolutely need to see how this got started and I won't deprive you of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW873dEPiBI

For the uninitiated (which was me a couple months ago), worm grunting is a way of gathering earthworms for fishing bait. You drive a wooden stake into the ground and scrape it with a metal tool to create vibrations. Those vibrations mimic the sounds of underground predators like moles, which trick the worms into surfacing to escape, only to end up as bait.

Anyway. The shirt.

My boss had three color options to choose from. Aqua, olive, or rust. And listen, olive and rust are perfectly fine colors. Likely most suitable for a shirt from a worm grunting festival. But aqua was never really a choice so much as an inevitability, because if you've seen my wardrobe you know I lean colorful.

Color does something to your mood. I believe this deeply.

To prove it, I bring you Mark Zuckerberg.

For years the man wore the same gray t-shirt every single day. And I don't know if you noticed, but he always kind of looked like he was doing a hostage negotiation with his own face. Then came the tech-bro glow-up. The chains. The fitted shirts. The actual colors. And suddenly he's out here smiling like a person who has discovered joy.

I'm not saying the gray shirt was the problem, but I am saying it wasn't helping.

So, this week, in honor of worms and Zuckerberg, we're talking about color, specifically what wearing it does to your stress levels, your mood, and your overall happiness. Turns out there's real science behind dressing like you mean it.

Let's look at why the colors you wear actually matter more than you might think.

Your brain responds to color whether you tell it to or not.

Color perception is neurological. Research in environmental and color psychology shows that colors trigger automatic emotional and physiological responses, meaning your nervous system is reacting to what you're wearing before your brain has time to form an opinion about it. Cool tones like blues and greens are consistently associated with calm, reduced stress, and emotional steadiness. Warm tones like yellows, oranges, and certain reds are linked to energy, optimism, and elevated mood. Your outfit is sending signals to your brain all day long whether you're paying attention or not.

Wearing color you love reduces stress.

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that people who wore colors they personally associated with positive emotions reported lower stress and higher mood throughout the day compared to those wearing neutral or disliked colors. The key word there is personally. There's no single color that works for everyone. What matters is whether the color you're wearing carries a positive association for you. For some people that's a bold cobalt blue. For others it's a warm terracotta. For me it's apparently aqua, as confirmed by a Worm Gruntin' Festival t-shirt.

What you wear changes how you feel, not just how you look.

Researchers at Northwestern University came up with the concept of enclothed cognition, which is the idea that clothing affects the psychological processes of the person wearing it. Basically, what you put on your body influences how you feel and how you behave throughout the day. When you wear something that feels good and reflects how you want to show up, you actually show up differently. More confident. More present. More like yourself. A deliberate pop of color is a mood regulation strategy with a very low barrier to entry.

You don't need a whole new wardrobe. You just need a little intention.

The research doesn't require you to dress like a walking art installation. Studies on color and wellbeing consistently show that even small, deliberate doses of color produce meaningful mood benefits. A bright pair of socks. A colorful scarf. A statement necklace. Purple sneakers. Whatever it is, when you catch a glimpse of it in the mirror or glance down at your feet during a long meeting, it does something. It's a tiny, quiet reminder that you made a choice this morning to show up with a little more life. That matters more than it sounds.

This week, add some color on purpose. Start small. See what happens.

1. Pick one colorful thing to wear tomorrow.

Not a full outfit overhaul. Just one thing. A bright pair of socks, a colored scarf, a fun hat, a statement necklace, a pair of sneakers that make you smile. One deliberate pop of color and see how you feel by the end of the day.

If you need something fun to add to your wardrobe AND want to help support the newsletter, you can grab yourself a Chill the Duck Out t-shirt by clicking here

2. Notice what colors actually make you feel good.

This is more personal than you think. Spend a few days paying attention to which colors lift your mood when you see them, on other people, in your environment, in your closet. Then wear those colors more. Simple as that.

3. Audit your wardrobe for gray.

Not to throw any of it away. Just to notice the ratio. If everything you own is neutral, that's useful information. You don't have to go full rainbow. But a few intentional additions can shift the whole feel of getting dressed in the morning.

4. Try color somewhere unexpected.

Put a colorful coffee mug on your desk. Or a water glass with fun little duckies like I did.

Add a bright throw pillow to your couch. Color doesn't have to live exclusively in your wardrobe to do its job. Surround yourself with colors that make you feel good and let them work on you quietly throughout the day.

5. Give yourself permission to be the colorful one.

Some of us were quietly trained to be subtle, understated, and neutral so as not to draw attention. That's worth examining. Wearing color isn't loud or attention-seeking. It's just a choice to show up with a little more of yourself. The world has enough gray t-shirts.

Permission slip for the week:

You are allowed to wear the aqua shirt. You are allowed to be the person in the room with the bright socks and the fun hat and the purple sneakers. You are allowed to dress like you're happy even on the days when you're working on getting there. We'll call this wisdom.

Reflection questions:

What color makes you feel most like yourself? And when did you last actually wear it?

What color makes you feel good? Are you actually wearing it? And what's the most colorful thing currently in your closet that you keep saving for a special occasion that never comes?

📩 [email protected]

If this made you want to go add some color to your day, start tomorrow morning with one intentional choice. Then send this to someone whose wardrobe could use a little more life in it.

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That's Volume 055. Here's to aqua t-shirts from small Florida festivals, bosses who know your vibe, and the quiet power of dressing like you mean it.

Until next time: breathe deep, wear something colorful, and chill the duck out.

Jason

Research in color psychology shows that cool tones like blue and green are consistently associated with reduced stress and emotional calm, while warm tones like yellow and orange are linked to elevated mood and energy. A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that wearing personally positive colors reduced stress and improved mood throughout the day. Researchers at Northwestern University developed the concept of enclothed cognition, finding that clothing affects the psychological processes of the person wearing it. Studies on color and wellbeing show that small deliberate doses of color produce meaningful mood benefits without requiring significant wardrobe changes.