Pretty Things: A week dedicated to beautiful objects.
It’s nice to feel as if everything is in order. This is particularly true at bedtime, when the mind is freest to dig up every anxiety, unanswered email, and amount spent that should have been saved. That’s why it is best, when preparing for sleep, to feel as if you’ve set your dominos in place perfectly, and that tomorrow they will elegantly fall into alignment, making a gentle peace sign, or a stylish “Cool S.” Ahh.
The truth, however, is that nothing will ever be in order; chaos reigns, and tomorrow will bring challenges and emails and acne that you did not anticipate. Because of this, you have to trick yourself into feeling like you have at least a modicum of control, which you do not. The most luxurious way to trick yourself? I’ve found it is with a beautiful, soft, elegant pajama set.
Ahh, a pajama set. In winter: oversize, flannel, and red; in summer: short, thin, and cool. Maybe silk, maybe something silk-like but not silk, maybe something that’s not even like silk at all. It’s a structured outfit for bedtime — a joy just for you, if you live alone, or a joy to be shared, if you have a roommate, romantic partner, or dog. It’s an incredible tool for feeling like you have things in order, which again you do not. A bottom and a top that match, for bedtime.
You’re ready.
Picture your normal bedtime outfit. Is it underwear and a tank top? Sweatpants and a T-shirt? Nothing? Some combination of underwear, tank top, sweatpants, T-shirt, and nothing? I won’t lie to you — these are all wonderful outfits. I love soft clothes and I love no clothes and I love sleeping just in general. It’s so nice to be in bed and to sleep. But, unless the underwear and the tank top match, each of these outfits says, “Ehh, okay. I guess I’m ready for bed.”
“Ehh, okay. I guess I’m ready for bed” is fine most nights. We aren’t superheroes or Sabrina the Teenage Witch when she just blinks her eyes and is ready for either morning or night, even though we would love to be the second option for that specific power or the first option for teleporting; we can’t be clearly and determinedly ready for bed every night of the week. We’re too tired. But … what about maybe just on Sunday night?
Picture your next Sunday night — this coming Sunday night, if that helps. You prepare yourself for sleep. You complete your nighttime rituals, showering or stretching or putting things on your face, hiding your contacts in their wet cubbies or making yourself a cup of Sleepytime tea which you place on your bedside table next to the book you’re reading. Your alarm is set. You take your folded pajama set out of its drawer and get dressed before peeling back the clean sheets of your made bed and diving in.
Ahhh. You’re stylish and prepared. You’re in control. Everything is in its right place, and you’re the one who put it there. You’re dressed, you match, and you look great. Now you’re ready for Monday. Yes?
No.
But it will feel like you are, thanks to your pajama set.
