New year, new pyjamas, new you

About fifteen years ago, my ever generous mum-in-law gave me a pair of pyjamas (*incredible to think she was my boyfriend’s mum then – I loved her then, and now more than ever.*) They were the most comfortable pair of ‘jammies’ I have ever owned. But they were also leopard print, fleecy, garish and shapeless (see feature photo for close up😊). I was sceptical at first about how they looked, I’ll admit. But from the moment I put them on, I knew me and those pjs were in for the long haul. I LOVED them.

Year after year, regardless of how many new pairs friends bought me for Christmas, how many times Bill pleaded with me to throw them out, and regardless of how unattractive they looked, I just could not say goodbye to these pjs. They were comfort personified. They held memories of girlie sleepovers, movie nights, cosy days by the fire, and chaotic weeks in the house with newborn babies – all rolled into one.

Then this Christmas, something stirred within me out of the blue (or maybe it was the lovely royal blue tracksuit Bill bought me this year.) 😆

Either way, somehow I knew it was time to finally let my favourite old pjs go.

And in a way, 2020 – with all its change and uncertainty – has forced each one of us to let certain things go. It’s stirred something in all of us. It’s made us uncomfortably and consciously aware of all the luxuries we relied on year after year. It’s sharpened the edges of our comfort zones, exposed our garish indulgences, and reminded us of a sentimental desire to hold on to things that just make us feel good.

But maybe it’s time to embrace the new blue tracksuit of life and accept that things just aren’t the same anymore. To explore the new places there are to run. To understand that, for now at least, less is the new more; missing out is the new chilling out; that emptier calendars can lead to fuller minds and souls, if we so choose.

So, as I don my new (hopefully) more attractive tracksuit and finally say goodbye to those old pjs, perhaps I’ll be able to recognise the treasured memories wrapped up in what was, while at the same time putting my bravest, best (and potentially fittest) foot forward for what’s to come.

2020, we choose let go all that we need to let go of; and 2021, we choose to ‘wear’ you with all the dignity, energy and courage we can muster!!

H x