I wore jeans and I hated it.

I wore jeans and I hated it. So uncomfortable!  Why did I do it to myself?   I was randomly trying to regain some sense of “normalcy.”  Never again.  They are itchy, scratchy, and patchy.  They’re restrictive because you can’t binge eat without unbuttoning them.  You also can’t do yoga, not that I’ve been doing yoga, but I would always like the option.  Why would I want my pants to restrict me? How did I go so long, through years of education, without realizing that my jeans were holding me back? 

I once listened to a podcast (Ted Radio Hour) that talked about creativity and basically said something along the lines of: “obstacles help us be more creative.”  The hosts had this quirky story about when the subways shut down due to a strike in London, so people had to find new ways to get to work.  After the strike ended, a lot of people realized that they preferred their new method of transportation. They were confronted with an obstacle, forced to be creative, and in the end, it helped them discover a fun new method of getting to work! That’s a little story I heard and I hope it makes sense.  The point is: obstacles make us creative!  Quarantine is an obstacle!  I personally think it was very creative of me to forgo my jean habit in favor of wearing leopard print pajama bottoms every day.  Leopard print pajama bottoms make me feel fierce like Carol Baskin.  They are practical because they allow me to go straight from Zoom class to bed.  Unlike my jeans, they don’t judge me for eating.

 People say that American life will change drastically after the pandemic, and I hope the death of jeans is part of that.  Like those London commuters, we have been forced to alter our habits in the last months.  Some of these modifications have failed (ahem, Zoom breakout rooms), while others allow us to better understand ourselves and our desires.  I, for one, desire to wear exclusively leopard print pajama bottoms for the rest of my life.  What do you desire?