Dressing: it's not about you!

Each morning I wake up, roll out of bed, jump in the shower...

Hello shower cap!  A must-have for every damsel.

and take a few minutes to make myself look presentable.  But what is it that makes some mornings so much easier than others?  Every few shakes of a lambs tail I wake up with "Perfect Day" from Legally Blonde running through my veins.  But some days I'd rather just stay in bed a while longer.

On the days when we're feeling oh-so-tired we tend to reflect it in how we dress.  Sweats, messy buns, no make up, you know what I mean.  But haven't we always heard that we will act how we dress?  Well, it's true.

Imagine this:  you spend all afternoon and evening getting ready for something special.  We'll say it's prom.  How did you act when your date picked you up at the door?  Did you slouch over and stomp your way down the stairs?  No!  You took your time.  You glided.  You let people see you.  Not in an overbearing way, but as a beautiful girl who is happy, confident, and self-assured.

Have you seen this couple?  Last seen tangoing across the dance floor in 2009.

Now, imagine this:  You wake up the next morning.  You've got a cemented up-do and five times more make up than usual still caked on your face because you got home at two in the morning.  You throw on a dress, brush your teeth, and head off to church.  Now how do you carry yourself?  That's what I thought.

So why do we do this to ourselves?  Why do we let ourselves wake up tired, and then feed that by putting on baggy sweats, an over-sized sweatshirt, and slink around campus like the world just punched us in the face.  It didn't just punch you in the face.  And don't tell me that you're saving time.  I find that I spend significantly more time trying to make myself look sloppily presentable than if I'd just gotten ready in the first place.

One more example:  traveling.

Ah!  I love it!  I looked through pictures of people traveling in the 21st century and figured it would be better if I just let you see these instead.  Traveling used to be seen as a privilege; something that was just as important as the trip itself.  Think about when the railroad began.  It was a social event!  Today's travelers would do well to take some advice from these classy people and learn that sometimes it's even more comfortable to dress a little bit nicer because you'll feel that much better about yourself.  Plus, your about forty times more likely to engage in a healthy, uplifting conversation with another person because you've dressed the part.

So there you have it.  Dressing is not about you, it's about making yourself available to others.  Not in a dating way, in a kind, compassionate, love your neighbor way.  My mom used to try to tell me this, but I didn't believe her.  She's the kind of lady who wears a cute outfit on an airplane and always makes a new friend in the bathroom, and now I know why.

This princess knows what she's doing.

Next time you wake up--perfect day, tired day, rough day, or traveling-across-the-world day--put on something nice.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just let yourself look put together.  You will feel infinitely better, and others will be drawn to the beauty in how you carry yourself.