Why I Get Dressed to Go to Work in My Home Office
Quarantine has changed my perspective on pajamas.
When I was first furloughed from my job in mid-March, I was — obviously — pretty bummed. I tried to focus on the bright side of things as best I could: I was still able to work my part time job at home, I could spend more time with my dogs and family, and I could wear pajamas every day if I wanted to.
My full time job is in a doctor’s office so my daily dress code is somewhere between business casual and business professional. The last outfit I wore to work was a long sleeve blouse and black stretchy slacks from Old Navy. Objectively I can dress pretty comfortably at my job. But I was still pretty pumped to wear my Nightmare Before Christmas pajama pants every day. That was back when I thought my furlough would only be about two weeks… I’m on day 65 now.
I decided pretty early on that I wanted to keep as normal a routine as possible for as long as possible: Get up around my normal time, drink my coffee, take a shower, put on clothes. Only I was just putting on different pajamas instead of regular clothes. And I was spending a lot of time in bed.
I was writing articles and poems from my bed, I was doing my data entry work for my driving school job from bed, I was eating snacks in bed. I love being comfortable and it is typically my first priority when I’m buying clothes or getting dressed for the day. Currently, I’m virtually teaching drivers education from home. My students can’t see anything under my shoulders, so my rationale was why should I bother getting ready from the neck down?
There are studies that show doing work from your bed can impact your ability to relax there and sleep at night. Some say to go as far is keeping electronics out of the bedroom altogether, including your phone. I don’t know if I’m ready to give up my phone quite yet, but I see the value in not bringing your laptop or work to bed.
I’m not perfect, but I wanted to try and stop working from bed. This not only encouraged my productivity, but it forced me to get dressed every day. I felt better getting dressed. I know, I’m crazy for putting on jeans in a time like this but I’m telling you, it helps. I just didn’t like sitting in my office or at the kitchen table in pajamas every day.
I can’t physically go to work but there are small changes I can make to at least make my days feel productive and meaningful. I even got my fiance to do the same thing: He’s get dressed every day even though we aren’t leaving the house. It just feels better to be in fresh, clean clothes.
Pajamas are for bed time, not for work time.
