If you looked better, you'd feel better

There are a bunch of disjointed thoughts that I am trying to pull together in this post, so please stay with me until the end.

I have this thing about efficiency.  I hate to waste.  Anything.  Time, clothes, effort, you name it.

I also have this thing about exercise.   I like to exercise every day.  And I find if I put my exercise clothes on first thing in the morning every day I can, changing out of those clothes without exercising is admitting monumental defeat.

I hate to be cold.  And because I am in the throes of menopause, this means I layer a lot, so I can throw off clothes during a hot flash.

I hate for my legs to be covered when I walk.  It has to be REALLY cold for me to want to walk in tights or long pants.  My legs just get hot faster than the rest of me, and I hate the clingy feel of sweaty tights or pants.

So, because I hate to waste anything,  and I usually put my exercise clothes on first thing in the morning, and they are usually a sports skirt,  and I hate to be cold, some strange outfits happen.

Oh, and I always brush my teeth and wash my face when I get up, but if I'm not leaving the house, I don't always brush my hair.

One morning over a year ago, I got up to get dressed for my first meeting of the day.  It was a work from home day, so I put on my exercise clothes.  A pink sports skirt, a neon green tee shirt, and a pair of bedroom slippers.  (Shoes are always more proximal to the actual exercise event).  But I was cold.  So I put on a pair of grey sweat pants (highwaters), a pair of pink fuzzy slipper socks, and a hooded Saints sweatshirt.  The skirt of the sports skirt was over the sweatpants.   And I had a spectacular case of bedhead.  I wish I had a picture of this truly unique look.

So, after my 6 am meeting, I brought my husband a cup of coffee when I went in to wake him up.   As he sat up in bed to drink his coffee, I shared that I felt like crap.   He delivered the immortal words, "Maybe if you looked better, you'd feel better."

Knowing a little about how I must look without looking in the mirror, I had to crack up laughing.  It has become a running joke in our house whenever I don one of my unique outfits.

Fast forward to yesterday.  My husband planned a day of working on his car.   I got up and got dressed to exercise.  After I took the dogs for a walk, and was ready to go for my own walk, my husband remarked that things were going better than he had expected and he would be finished soon.  So, I decided to wait for him.  Well, one thing led to another, and it was 4 pm by the time we walked.   Nothing at all wrong with that, but I still had to go grocery shopping.

As we got to the end of our walk, giving me my 5.5 miles on the day, I so did not want to go grocery shopping.  So, I tried to get out of it.  But going over the list in my head, there was no escape.   I wanted to take a shower and put on comfortable clothes, not get dressed and go shopping.

But I remembered, "If I looked better, I'd feel better".  So instead of putting on jeans and a tee shirt, I put on a pretty summer dress in a bright coral color.   What do you know?  I felt better.

So I went grocery shopping, and made supper, and folded laundry and emptied the dishwasher in my pretty dress.   Felt like a fugitive from the fifties, Donna Reed or June Cleaver.  But the ego boost I got from feeling pretty gave me the energy to finish my day with a smile instead of a grumble.

So, what is the point of all this?  We all have something that makes us feel better.   Be it a special outfit, or a piece of jewelry, or a favorite pair of shoes, or a special reading or poem.   When you need a boost to get through the day, or even part of the day, don't hesitate to use that something to boost you forward.

So much of life is simply finding the energy and the courage to tackle the next thing.   Some of them incredibly small things, like grocery shopping, some of them huge things, like finding a new job, or recovering from illness.  Build up your arsenal of weapons so that you know where to go for additional strength on the days you need it.

The important thing is it is ALL about you.  The things that bolster you up don't have to make sense to anyone else.  And they have to be things you can do for you.   If you figure out what those things are in the good times, you are ahead of the game when the hard times come.

I think I should go brush my hair now.....................