By Kristen Donia

Right now, lots of families are spending more time at home together, and my guess is most of us have gotten mighty close to the sweatpants and comfier pieces in our wardrobe.

I think we would all agree that it’s generally been pretty great, for the most part, since we don’t need to get ready as often. We’re saving time and money because we hardly wear makeup or do our hair anymore. That’s a bonus.

However, I realized, now that we’re not getting ready for the day as much, sometimes I feel extra lazy in the mornings. Nowhere to go, nowhere to be. I’m not as excited to- make it a great day, and put my best foot forward.

The thing is, sometimes my most comfortable clothes…don’t exactly make me feel my best. There’s something about preparing for the day and getting ready that gets my mind in the right place and creates a better mindset for my day. Lately though, there’s been less of that mentality.

In our house, my family and I are logging a lot of sweatpants time, and as it turns out, we’ve all been feeling the same sort of way. As we talked it out, I realized that we have been judging the way we looked and now it’s starting to affect the way we feel about ourselves.

I’ve come to understand that at its core, this relates to my own feelings of self-worth and “am I good enough” stuff, which lead me to journaling a lot more lately to help me process it all. This is what I have come up with as an approach to help, if you want to give it a try.

First, we take a minute to think of three things that make us special, then just pause and really feel and appreciate those things. As an example, mine were:

  1. I have been really courageous during some times in my life when I had to be.
  2. I am a supportive friend and family member.
  3. I have a very special relationship with my sweet dog.

Next, each of us stood in front of the biggest mirror in the house (in our daily athleisure look) and looked for those things in ourselves, with our eyes and our hearts. I could still see the courageous little sister I was. I could still see the supportive girl that I have been to my friends and family, and I could still see the girl that takes such good care of her four-legged best friend. Even though I wasn’t wearing a bra and my sweats weren’t “super cute” by anyone’s standards, I was still special and I had just tapped into that special feeling of worthiness. It was the gratitude and worthiness of self-love. At the same time, it was also forgiveness. Forgiving myself for feeling like I was “less than” just because I wasn’t getting ready for the world in the same way.

I still plan to get ready sometimes because I, like many of us, enjoy the ritual of it all and it still feels good, but now I know that I don’t need to get down on myself if I wear comfy clothes seven days a week. I’m going to practice seeing the real girl, the one inside the outfit, for her very own unique-self.