The power of one of my morning rituals: getting dressed (despite working from home) and sharing a picture
My last post talks about doing things that are more in line with my life values. Doing things that give me energy and help me enjoy myself. I wanted to share some brief thoughts about my recent, seemingly trivial, 5-minute ritual of getting dressed / sharing a photo and how it’s made a positive impact on my overall wellbeing. I’ve been doing it for 5-6 weeks now. Next week, I hope to dive deeper into the importance of building routine around things that matter to you and drawing boundaries to protect them as part of my undoing burnout/anxiety series.
Style/fashion has always been a big part of how I expressed myself, but I definitely lost a lot of that during the pandemic and postpartum. During the pandemic, many of us embraced sweat pants and pajamas while hopping on Zoom calls from home, rather than getting dressed to go into the office for work. And postpartum, I was slowly getting used to my body post-birth, didn’t love how I looked in many things I owned, and didn’t prioritize revamping my wardrobe because I was busy mom-ing or working. So I admittedly wore many of the same items week over week and didn’t touch much in my closet for 2.5 years (2020-early 2022). Every work day, I’d wear a simple tee, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt. Some days, I’d even keep my PJ pants on and throw on a shirt or sweatshirt to look semi-put together (waist up) on a Zoom call. It was comfortable and easy. But over time, when I’d look in the mirror, I’d feel and look kinda… blah.
As part of my mental wellness journey over the last year, I made an effort to make better use of my closet again, getting rid of items that don’t bring me joy and buying some new things to update my wardrobe. 6 weeks ago, I started a quick 5-10 minute morning routine of getting properly dressed and sharing daily WFH outfits on Instagram. I didn’t really intend to keep it up, but I had a lot of fun shopping my closet (and shopping for new clothes). And now, 3 years since the start of the pandemic, getting dressed has finally become a daily ritual for me again (maybe not 100% of the time, but at least 80-90% of the time).
This relatively small act of changing up what I wear (even when working from home where no one sees much more than my face) and sharing a photo on Instagram has given me a mood boost every morning and even started to slowly chip away at my deeply rooted perfectionist tendencies. There have been numerous articles/studies talking about the benefits of getting dressed in the morning, and I’m a believer. Let’s break down the positives I’ve experienced, starting with the mood boost bit.
Making use of my clothes again lately has given me a small mood boost to start my day. For most people, I find that wearing an outfit you really enjoy has the power to elevate how you feel and how you carry yourself. There are some days where I feel like I look better than others, but they generally all feel better than what I was doing before, wearing the same sweatpants (or pajamas) all week. Sure, it takes a few extra minutes to get properly dressed. But those extra few minutes to change up how I look almost always make me feel more presentable and give me a boost to start another work day/week with more optimism and confidence. Since I did enjoy the comfort of sweats/pajamas, I’m also optimizing for looks that are comfy but polished since I work from home and don’t want to deal with anything fussy.
In addition to getting dressed, I also started posting daily WFH outfit pics, which have helped combat some of my deeply rooted perfectionist tendencies. At first, I shared a photo online because I wanted to pump myself up for work and show solidarity with others getting through the work week. As I continued to share pictures of myself the first 1-2 weeks, I would often think to myself, “What am I doing? I don’t even look that great. What is someone else going to think?” But I continued posting anyway as a way to keep myself accountable for getting dressed every day (since I enjoyed how it felt) and documenting the different ways I was leveraging my closet (for inspiration, creativity and learning). An unexpected outcome is that my selfies also became a tactic in starting to combat my need for perfectionism. The photos I share often have crappy lighting (lol, due to the location of my mirror), feature a mop in the background, show my overfilled dresser, etc. A younger version of myself would've cringed at the thought of sharing these rough photos. For fear of what people would say or think about me, my clothes, my room. For fear of not having an IG worthy photo. But now I find myself ok with the slight imperfection. There hasn’t been any consequence (in fact, it’s connected me with more people), and it’s been fun/freeing to share something that I enjoy doing (getting dressed / styling) with others.
Reflecting on the past 1.5 months, I’m proud of myself for making this whole process a small (but powerful) routine.
Whether it’s getting dressed in the morning, taking a few minutes to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, read the news, or do a morning meditation, I’d be curious if you have any morning (or daily) rituals and hearing what it does for you. If you don’t have one, it’s never too late to try something out. Spending a few minutes on yourself every day, no matter how seemingly trivial, is so valuable, and the investment will definitely pay off.