The Pros and Cons of Getting Dressed in The Morning
For me, falling asleep is a cinch. I start REM cycles the moment my head touches a pillow. Any pillow or pillow like object—a stranger's couch, the passenger seat head rest—I’m basically a professional sleeper. It runs in the family (thanks Mom and Dad)! Insomnia is only an eight letter word for my sleep cycles. But mornings are another story. The ole’ “I’m not a morning person,” is a complete and utter understatement. I cling to the covers when daybreaks. When I hear an alarm, instead of leaping out of bed bright eyed and bushy tailed, I grab my fluffy blonde teddy bear of a pooch and snuggle him until the very last minute before I need to hop in the shower. I often slink out of bed and pull the covers back over him wishing we could trade places for the day à la freaky friday. It’s not that I don’t enjoy being awake. I love my days! I just struggle to start them. I mean, if I could wake up to fresh breakfast in bed every morning I’d probably be singing a different tune. But since room service isn’t an everyday amenity in my house, I teeter between the pros and cons of waking up and getting dressed every morning. Here are a few bright spots to mornings along with some (hopefully, relatable) venting about my daily struggle to rise and shine.
Waking Up
Pro:
A fresh new day full of possibilities and potential!
Con:
The actual adult requirement to get up and get dressed when my cuddle pup is spooning me in bed. Beds are just more comfortable in the morning. It’s a fact. It is so hard to leave their cozy cushy cloud like cocoon. Especially when my alarm chimes right into my last remaining REM cycle destroying the end to whatever nonsensical dream my subconscious desperately clings to.
Weather
Pro:
Thank the tech gods, we have apps for the weather that are somewhat accurate. A better guess than the weatherman on a network morning show or looking out the window used to be back in the day. Nothing beats being properly dressed for fluctuating weather conditions.
Con:
When I forgot to turn on the heater before hopping out of bed and have to expose bare skin to the cruelty of cold temps even for a second. Hiding beneath the covers all day is often a more enticing prospect. Dressing for rotten weather is also a major downer. Not to mention, a lack of sunlight makes getting out of bed a lot less inviting.
Laundry
Pro:
Clean clothes = tons of outfit options. Honestly, the only thing better than a fresh batch of folded laundry in the morning is new never-worn clothes.
Con:
Dirty clothes, especially when everything I want to wear is clean except the perfect pair of underwear for the outfit I picked. Personally, I’d never be caught dead wearing black panties under a white dress. And no one likes to wear a dirty pair of panties. That’s just unsanitary.
Forming an Outfit
Pro:
Hooray for a daily medium to channel self expression and creativity into! I usually start crafting an ensemble in my mind after hitting snooze. It’s a gentle transition into the day. The first decision to be made. I try to set the mood for my day with some fun—pumping the music or watching an episode of Friends while brainstorming an outfit suitable for the trajectory of my day. Weather, errands, meetings, day off—every day requires a complex configuration to feel confident and comfortable with my selection through the ups and downs of the day. I often pat myself on the back for a job well done. It's no easy feet to look and feel fabulous everyday. And sometimes, I even rediscover a piece in my closet I completely forgot I owned. Score!
Con:
When the pieces planned in my mind for the ideal outfit don’t work out. This, of course, leads to the seemingly endless cycle of outfit configurations to find the perfect combo. And sometimes—after ten outfit trials—none of them feel quite right. And other times, I just don’t have the time to craft the ideal outfit. More often than not, the thing I want to wear is dirty. Either way, the whole process of putting clothes on becomes a chore to me if it takes longer than ten minutes.
Breakfast
Pro:
The most important meal of the day. Comfort food at its finest. Pancakes, waffles, fruit, poached eggs, home fries, muffins, warm or iced caffeinated elixirs like coffee or tea. This is often my main motivation to get up out of bed. That and the fact that my bulging bladder can only hide under the covers for so long.
Con:
When I have to make my own breakfast/ coffee/ need to restock the fridge and have no sustenance to sustain me except water, pure filtered calorie-deficient water. Perhaps you enjoy cooking, and maybe you are even a blissed out morning person. I am not. If I had my very own Rosie the Robot ala the Jetsons to bring me breakfast in bed every morning with a piping hot cup of Yerba mate, I’d probably be more pleasant at sunrise and avoid hitting snooze five times.
Cosmetology
Pro:
Transforming insecurities into confidence while expressing my inner identity to the outside world. No matter the routine or rituals—bare faced natural beauty, a religious skin care regimen, S-waved tresses, or the perfect cat-eye—there is a potent power that comes with feeling beautiful.
Con:
Washing my hair. It needs to be done—sure—but taming a wet mop isn’t ideal. Styling post shower takes a whole 30 extra minutes. Precious time I could be snoozing. And the cramp I get in my forearm from meticulously massaging co-wash into my scalp or waving my hair with a straightener feels more like a workout than I’d care to admit. Painting my face is usually fun, unless I’m on a time crunch. Then it feels like a race to the runway “make it work” moment which always leads to unnecessary anxiety. Bare face it is.
(Images via Sleepy Jones, Buzzfeed, @Pansyco, Into The Gloss)
