All dressed up and nowhere to go…

Yesterday, I actually got dressed up for work. I was working from home but doing a careers talk for an old friend’s Psychology students. So I thought I should look the part!

I put on a new sweater and some very fetching trousers – both of which were bought as retail therapy while under lockdown. It felt really, really good to like how I looked in the mirror.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t see Chris Evans looking back at me from the mirror, but I realised that I’d been relying on the same few ‘work uniform’ pieces for weeks and weeks, as I didn’t see any point to doing otherwise.

Well now I know different. While I love getting out of my work clothes at the end of the working day, this is usually about boundary management and signalling to myself that work is over. Lately, that’s involved getting out of my jeans and into some airline PJs from previous flights to Asia. Or nothing at all, if the mood takes me.

But getting into an outfit I really liked made me feel super positive and optimistic. Again, I haven’t been dressed like I fell into the wardrobe or got dressed in the dark, but it hasn’t exactly been varied or inspired either.

So I then put on a new jacket I got from Uniqlo (home of clothes for hobbit-sized men like me) and went for a walk around the neighbourhood. I felt good. I felt like I looked good too, and that dressing up was definitely worthwhile. These clothes fit me perfectly and, in combination with my long walks and very healthy diet so far this year, showed off a little of my weight loss too.

So, while it’s been popular to joke about living in sweatpants during lockdown, I’m committing to dressing like I want to, as it makes me feel so great. And god knows, I’ll take those positive moods wherever I can find them right now!

(Photo by piotr szulawski on Unsplash)