For many of us, the “getting ready for work” ritual seems like a distant memory. Alarm goes off and I check the weather while I convince myself to pull off the covers. Then, after I’ve showered, brushed my teeth, and blown out my hair, there’s a moment right before I look in the mirror when I start to really see myself. As I “put on my face,” like my grandma used to say, I see emerging before me a woman that can face anything life throws at her today… and she knows it. 

Turning Up the Heat

It almost feels as if I’m turning up the heat on the internal flame for the whole world to see. Most importantly, however, I need to see it. I need to see her. The woman in me who is leading her life, tending her home, connecting to her community, and mastering the work of her hands. This ritual is not just about the face we show to the world, it is about the face we see in the mirror each morning. It is about beholding self. 

Don’t Skip the Self Care Ritual

Now, more than ever, with many of us still working from home, it’s easy to make excuses for skipping this ritual because we aren’t leaving the house as much as we used to. Sure, we can throw on some gloss and a cute bun right before our Zoom call, but if you’re anything like me, you barely have time to stop by a mirror on your way to the next thing. This begs the question, who are we getting ready for? 

Facing Our Challenges

I mean, has life stopped sending us challenges? Do we no longer need to feel empowered and capable of facing the tasks and hardships of our day? Facing our challenges. That’s an interesting phrase, now that I think about it. We literally put our faces in front of the struggles of daily life. I think if we’re going to ask that much of our faces, then our faces deserve a little TLC. 

Practice Something New

In fact, it might just be time to indulge that ritual a little bit more. For those of us working from home – think of all the time we’re saving on the commute, on parking, or stopping to get an Americano. Sure, some mornings we just want to sleep in. I know I do. But, maybe we can take a couple mornings a week to treat ourselves to some time in front of the mirror. We can respect the extraordinary person who is making this life work for us in the midst of such an upside-down time. 

Let’s practice a new skincare routine. Let’s get up a little extra early to enjoy a slower morning.  Maybe commit to putting on makeup a few days of week to feel more put together. Maybe try out eyelash extensions, to see how they feel 😉 If you’re asking yourself, what’s the point of a beauty regimen anymore the answer is easy.

The point is YOU. There doesn’t need to be an event, an outside job, or anything unusual going on for you to be worthy of a little extra glam + self care.