The No Yoga Pants Experiment

Yoga pants are amazing. They don’t care whether my breakfast was a kale smoothie or a chocolate doughnut. They look great with a ponytail. They might fool you into thinking I’m going to exercise today when really I just didn’t bother to get dressed.

I promise I’m not lazy. It’s just that—newsflash—raising tiny humans is extremely time consuming and exhausting. And fixing my hair, doing my makeup, planning a cute outfit? So. much. work. Imagine my surprise, then, when I felt the urge a few weeks ago to actually “get ready” for the day. I mentally reviewed my calendar. It’s not the weekend. I don’t have any appointments or errands later. I will be seen only by my kids and husband. After suppressing the urge a few minutes, I thought, I’d rather do my hair than do laundry, and went for it.

When I picked up my daughter from preschool that day, I swear her teacher did a double-take.

“I love your hair today!” she said, still mentally comparing the person in front of her to the yoga-pants-clad, ponytailed woman who shows up every other day.

When I was putting my little one in the car, she grabbed my chin and asked, “Mommy, why are you pretty?” I know these comments were meant as compliments, but I was a little rattled. Am I that ugly every other day? Do I feel as different as I apparently look? So I made a split second decision to conduct an experiment. For the following week, I would get ready every day regardless of what my plans were. I defined “get ready” as hair not being in a ponytail or messy bun, not wearing yoga pants, and applying a minimum of my CC cream and mascara.

The “No Yoga Pants Experiment” resulted in busting a few widely accepted myths that I had been buying into:

Myth 1: I don’t have time to get ready. Turns out, I do have enough time for self-care. My schedule didn’t change during the week of the No Yoga Pants Experiment. We had school, therapy, church, birthday parties, chores—all the usual time suckers. Everything I’d usually cite as an excuse for my messy bun and yoga pants. Yet when I wanted to find time to do my hair, I was able to. And by the end of the week, I was pretty fast at the morning hair/makeup routine. Obviously, this is a little subjective. Some may define getting ready as a full face contour and professional-looking blowout. That is probably an unrealistic look to achieve every day on a typical mom schedule. But just having on some makeup, clothes that aren’t for exercising, and fixed hair, was completely doable.

Myth 2: If I get ready every day, I will feel better. I’ve come across sentiments in the past suggesting that getting ready in the morning leads to a more productive day. In my mind, I figured this would also lead to a happier mama. Not so. Don’t get me wrong; I think there is something to be said for “showing up” for the day as your best self (“Watch out, world! I’m as fierce as my eyelashes look”). However, when your child is having a massive tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, losing your mind does not hinge on whether your pants are stretchy or denim. No color lipstick can make you say kind things to someone you’re struggling to get along with. And feeling whole has more to do with how you’re managing your thoughts than your beauty supplies.

Myth 3: It’s important to consider how others perceive you. When choosing an outfit, I used to always think about who would see me during the course of the day. For example, I dressed differently on days we had playdates than on days we went grocery shopping. The week of no yoga pants ended and I wasn’t sure what to do. Yoga pants? No yoga pants? What was the “right” thing to do? Then it dawned on me: I GET TO DECIDE. I get to decide who I am, how I show up, and what I wear. And so do you! It’s possible to have a day where yoga pants are the best thing to wear—and not just because you might exercise. It’s also possible to get dolled up when you’re not leaving the house. Because the only person you should think about when planning your appearance is YOU—not out of selfishness, but out of authenticity. Presenting ourselves in a way that is congruent with our vision, ideals, and intentions for the day allows us to feel beautiful and confident regardless of whether our hair is curled or ponytailed. Not to mention that we can’t control how others perceive us, but we can totally control how we perceive ourselves.

If you feel like your appearance is being dictated by your circumstances (like I did), I strongly recommend that you conduct your own version of the No Yoga Pants Experiment. Because there is a big difference between “I’m wearing these yoga pants because I have to” and “I’m rocking these yoga pants because I want to.” Truthfully, it’s not about the yoga pants at all. It’s about you, beautiful mama—taking care of and being you.

Whitney
When Whitney fell in love with a handsome Texan, she just knew that someday they would call Texas home. Her three favorite things about San Antonio are the tacos, the family-friendly feel, and the school her children attend--Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children. Whitney is a former ninth grade English teacher and proud mama of two redheads nicknamed GingerSnap (daughter born in 2014) and GingerDude (son born in 2017). Her son is deaf and has bilateral cochlear implants. Sunshine Cottage provided all the tools needed to turn GingerDude into a little chatterbox and Whitney into the hearing loss/listening and spoken language advocate that she is. When she isn’t volunteering at Sunshine Cottage, Whitney spends her time serving in organizations at church, spreading awareness and encouragement on Instagram, and keeping the Weaver household in working order. She tries to make time each day to go for a run and her favorite thing to do on a Saturday is hike at a nearby state park with her family. Favorite Restaurant: Thai Dee Favorite Landmark: The Riverwalk Favorite San Antonio Tradition: Fiesta Decorations and Attire