The Pajama Paradox

I had this friend that it didn’t matter what time he came over, my mom was always in her pajamas. It was weird because my mom isn’t one of those yoga pants, pajama ladies. She is the kind of lady that comes home from work and changes Mr. Roger’s style. You know, when he comes in and changes his jacket for a different jacket followed by switching dress shoes to sneakers. Yeah, my mom does stuff like that: she switches from her work uniform (she works in an orthodontist office and gets to wear sports jerseys) and slacks to jeans and a nice t-shirts.  Anyway, when she would finally change into pajamas at the end of the day, or linger in her jams longer than usual on a weekend morning, my friend would show up. It was a strange phenomenon.

Me on the other hand, I have always preferred being comfortable over looking fantastic, until I worked in the real world and needed nice professional clothes. There was something confidence boosting about dressing like a professional every day and going to work. There was nothing more satisfying that coming home and changing into sweatpants and curling up with my laptop to watch Netflix.

Anyway, I hadn’t really thought too much about this until the other day when I stumbled across this blog post about looking professional as a student. It made me think back to my first semester at CSU. I was in pregnant and ill every day. Every morning I would wake up, tell myself I was going to wear pajamas, shower and then put on real clothes instead. I don’t think I ever really wore pajamas to class, EVER.

Fast forward to after graduation. I had just started staying home full time. I would get up, go for a run, come home, shower, and change into comfy clothes unless I was going shopping or running errands. It didn’t matter; I mean Princess Pea was just starting to wobble around. As soon as I returned home, I would change immediately into sweat pants. I stopped wearing makeup; after all, Princess Pea doesn’t care.

Six months and one move later, I was in a slump. I felt like my life was a blah, blah mess. One afternoon Superman happened to get home from work one day the same time Princess Pea and I had. Superman was shocked to see me in real clothes. It had been forever since he saw me in something other than sweatpants.

I began to make an effort to wear real clothes more often than just out and about. I slowly added makeup back into my routine and found something amazing about wearing real clothes. I began to feel better about myself and my life. Life wasn’t so slumpy anymore. I was more willing to get out and do things rather than bum around the house.

There is this strange thing about what we wear. It’s weird how what we wear can impact not only how other’s view us, but how we view ourselves. I know I have more motivation to eat healthy and take care of myself when I wear clothes that make me feel good or feel like a real person. I know people take me more seriously when I dress like an adult rather than a trendy twenty-year old. It’s easier to write blog posts when I’m dressed like a human than a servant in sweats.

How has wearing different things affected others or even your own attitude?