I have often read that even if you work from home, you should get dressed every day as if you were going in to the office. How you’re dressed changes your attitude, your attention, and even your voice when you’re talking on the phone. And I know this to be true.

A “Decluttering” website I used to subscribe to takes this premise even further, saying you should get dressed all the way to your shoes, which should have lace-up ties or buckles. No slip-ons that you can kick off without even realizing it, since you’re then either barefoot or in your stockinged feet – not too professional, plus you’ll be looking all over the house later on to find your shoes.

This makes sense, too. But just because something makes sense, that doesn’t mean we’ll act on it. If it did, most of us would be eating less, exercising more, reducing our stressors, and getting eight hours of sleep every night. The truth is, many of us need a slap-in-the-face wake-up call – like a heart attack or other emergency – before we make changes we know we should make.

This happened to me just this morning. Not a medical situation, fortunately – just an embarrassing one.

Most mornings start with a trip to the health club to work out. When I get home, I may do some things around the house before I shower and get dressed in normal clothes. This morning, however, I stayed home while my husband went to work out. We’re having company this weekend, and I still had some baking and cleaning to get done. Plus, this is the day that I write and post my blog. I’ve always found that writing comes most easily and naturally first thing in the morning, before I’m fully awake. So that’s what I was doing, still in my nightgown, when the doorbell rang.

We weren’t expecting any deliveries and had no service appointments, so I peeked out the window and saw the bug pest truck in our driveway. I then opened the front door, and the driver informed me it was time for our annual termite inspection. There are a lot of bugs and critters here in the South, and we have regular inspections and treatments in order to keep them out of the house. Or to get them out of the house, as we had to do when some squirrels took up residence in our attic.

I quickly threw on a housedress and pair of shoes before going out to unlock our crawl space, all the while wishing I had showered and gotten dressed all the way to lace-up shoes.

The good news is there were no signs of any termites. The bad news is I probably won’t change my morning habits because of this.

Or maybe I will. Later this morning, my husband saw a 6-foot-long snake not far from the door to the crawl space. So at the very least, I’ll make sure to put shoes on before ever walking outside.

Or lace-up hiking boots.

October 6, 2017
©Betty Liedtke, 2017

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