I’ve Practically Given Up on Wearing Pants. Is That Bad?

With having to stay home due to the “Rona”, and outdoor activities being kept at a minimum, I admit that I have been having a hard time staying committed to wearing jeans. When your daily activities involve you hopping from your bed, to your living room couch, and then eventually back to your bed again (à la duck, duck, goose style), wearing actual outfits are probably at the bottom of your list of priorities.

Although wearing sweatpants practically every day isn’t a crime, I admit that I have experienced feeling guilty for not getting dressed often. To be honest, most days when I wake up, going through my closet to pick out an outfit doesn’t even cross my mind. Usually when 3:00pm comes around and I’ve realized that I have been wearing my house-clothes all day, I am hit with a wave of shame and disappointment. Whereas most of my internal admonishments are relatively mild:

“I can’t believe that I didn’t get dressed today.”

“I’m a stylist, I should know better than to wear sweatpants all day.”

Some… are a bit more contemptuous:

“DANG girl. So, you’re just not going to wear a bra ever again? Okay sis, okay.”

“Serving Quarantine Realness”

If you are also mandated to stay home, then there’s a high possibility that like me, you may be facing similar feelings about yourself and your lack of clothes-wearing. If this is the case, here are some things that I have come to realize that helped me alleviate my internal stress, and could help yours:

1.     Give yourself grace.

This is an interesting time that we are living in, and arguably, it will be the new normal for the time being. With this in mind, it is important to give yourself grace if you do not feel motivated to get dressed every day. You are still calibrating to being at home 24/7, with minimal human-to-human contact, and all of your usual social routines have been disrupted. That is a lot to take in, and it is ok to admit that the current public health situation probably affects your mood and motivation from day to day.

2.     Not getting dressed every day is not synonymous with laziness.

If you are like me, and were raised within a society that prizes capitalistic gain above all else, you have a complex relationship with the concept of productivity. In a capitalist society, time equals money. Thus, top productivity is emphasized through allocating and streamlining the way an individual utilizes their time during the day. Doing so ensures that individuals are “using their time wisely” when it comes to performing tasks (e.g. completing a project), and that maximum monetary and non-monetary benefits can be reaped from their labor. As a result, if you are not optimizing your productivity, then you are considered to be wasteful with your time, and by extension, not an active member of society.

This concept of productivity impacts the way we wear our clothes. It is expected that we allocate a certain amount of time during the morning to get dressed, and that we should get dressed every time we leave the house. Along with this, wearing certain types of clothing (e.g. business suits) is a way to market to the world your labor potential, and your work readiness. Considering that most of us are working remotely (or cannot work at all during this time), and are required to remain home as much as possible, a good portion of the world’s population is struggling to convince themselves that they should wear any other footwear besides house slippers.

So, if you are left feeling ashamed that you haven’t worn a tie for four weeks straight, know that it is not because you are lazy.  You are experiencing guilt that is a result of being conditioned to believe that you should be “productive” even in the middle of a global pandemic.

3.     Redirect your energy.

As a stylist, styling and wearing clothes is intrinsically linked to my creativity. So, when I noticed that I did not have the motivation to get dressed every day, I decided to redirect my energy from internal shame, to creating opportunities to nourish my creativity. For example, my Stylist on the Stoop blog has not only allowed me to funnel my imagination when it comes to style, it also allows me to connect to people around the world.

You can do the same! Take the time to think about how you can redirect your energy to something positive. Maybe you could read that book that you’ve been meaning to read. Or maybe you could finally tackle organizing your wardrobe (you don’t have to do it alone, I can help). Whatever you choose, make sure you are redirecting your energy to something that you enjoy!

After much reflection, I have chosen to step away from shaming myself for not getting dressed regularly. Hopefully, reading my experiences will help you adjust and relax during this impactful time. In the comments below, feel free to share whether you have felt the desire to keep up with wearing actual pants, or any advice you would like to share.

I’ll see you on the stoop.

Calandra M.