Dressing for a case of the Mondays

A new study says that people tend to put more effort into their appearance on Mondays, paying less attention to their looks as the week wears on.  The study seems to suggest that as the work week progresses, we get more and more tired, and can’t put forth the effort that we do on Mondays.  I’d offer an alternate explanation.

I too, tend to dress up more on Mondays than Thursdays and Fridays. But it’s not because I’m too tired to look nice later in the week.  It’s because I’m trying to reverse psychologize myself via my clothes.  Fake it til you make it.  You know what I mean.

On a Monday, when I’m wishing my weekend were longer, dragging myself out of bed, struggling to get motivated to go to work, I often reach for one of my prettiest dresses, hoping the pretty will permeate my skin with some positive energy to get me to work and get me through the day.

I think it works! I once sent my sister a greeting card that said: “Just ask Cinderella: the right shoes can change your life!”  I believe it.  I may not be a high heels kind of girl, but today, for example, is a stormy Tuesday after a lovely Memorial Day weekend filled with beach time and cookouts.  To add insult to injury, I’m an administrative assistant for an academic department at a college.  The chair’s almost never in in the summer, and most of the students and faculty are gone. I have next to nothing to do, which leads me to believe my time would better be spent napping through a thunderstorm than sitting at a desk.  Not to mention, I have less than a month left at this job!  So what am I wearing today? A fabulous pink and black floral-printed dress that fits me perfectly (a miracle, since it was randomly purchased for me by my husband online) and black patent-leather ballet flats.  My outfit is providing me with a little bit of sunshine on a day that otherwise is gray and dreary.  No matter that my shoes were full of water by the time I got to the office this morning: I look fab, so I feel like I just might make it through the work day.

Surely I can’t be the only one.