The syndrome started with Covid. No more belts. Forget about dress clothes. Wear slippers around the house, flip flops, socks with no shoes, or just plain forget about anything on your feet and go barefoot. Who cares? No one’s looking at you. Except for those Zoom calls. Then you can do like those newscasters and just make sure you look decent from the belt up.
Casual One to Casual Two is the period of moving from winter sweat pants you slip on with no effort and switch out to shorts. As the temps go up, going casual gets even easier. Yank those shorts on and you’re ready to go.
For all the bad things about Covid, there is one good thing, and that’s the move towards casual wear. Not having to demonstrate to others how good you look that day has many benefits.
First, you don’t have to keep up with fashion of the workplace. Working from home means keeping up with the wardrobes of others no longer matters.
Second, because you don’t need clothes for your workplace, you save money. No more purchases. No more buying a shirt, blouse, jacket, sockets, pants, dress or shoes when an old set of any of those wear out. Instead, you can head to Goodwill or the Salvation Army and deposit your worn-out discards. The opens up your closet space, saves you money, and makes you feel good helping others.
Third, it takes less time (and thought) getting dressed in the morning. No planning. Just yank the clothes on. No wondering who you’re seeing today or what they’ll think of you. Think of those additional seconds of extra time adding up day after day, and by the end of the year, you’ve probably saved minutes in your life that you would use focusing on purchasing the best toilet paper on the market.
Fourth, hanging out casually at home lets you wear more comfortable clothes. This is probably the greatest benefit. You get dressed more quickly and are out the door with no hassles. Slip on those shorts. Yank on a t-shirt. Slide into those sandals. Out you go.
Seriously, there is something more relaxed about your body when you’re not constraining it with a belt, tight socks and pants that hug your legs, butt and waist. You breathe better when you wear sweats. When you move to the Casual Two time of year in shorts-wearing weather, that gets even more comfortable as your legs have the additional leeway by being freed up from constraints.
Casual One and Casual Two give us a little relief from the stress and worries these past two years on so many fronts. We can use that small gifts that keep us going.