January 24th and I still feel like I just don’t have my shit together. Do you know what I mean? Like, every morning rolls around as kind of a surprise. There are still Christmas presents in boxes. One box contained a smart pair of pyjamas from my husband. I was alarmed and paralysed at the expense - I have laughed at the cost in the past - and the instruction to dry clean, but failed over and over again to get my shit together to request the receipt to take them back and now it’s far too late. “Just keep them!” said Giles. “Just keep them and wear them, it doesn’t matter.”
So I tried them on this morning and they are absolutely terrific. So smart they can be worn as separate items of clothing. AND the pyjama bottoms are a little snug. This is a good thing. Not so snug that I can’t wear them, but so snug as to give me a hard shove into sobriety.
When you are a regular drinker, but not a problem drinker, it’s very hard to find motivation to cut back or give up entirely for a bit. My usual clothes fit, my sleep is fine, I never file my work late, I feel okay, I don’t hit my children or scream at my husband after a gin and tonic. I know that the dream is to hardly ever drink, or drink at weekends, or whatever other bargaining deal people have with themselves when it comes to booze but the reality is that if it’s no problem, then what’s the problem?
I tell you what the problem is: those very expensive, slightly too tight pyjama bottoms. And I know full well how to get that tummy and muffin top off me: actually do the 16:8, (not 15:9 or whatever is it that I’m doing now), and stop guzzling many calories-worth of alcohol every night. I am dreading it. But now I have the horrible mental picture of my wine-gut in those silky pyjamas in my head, and if that’s not sober motivation, I don’t know what is.
What else? I have always really like Hush t-shirts. I think they are made from nice material and are a flattering shape. But about five years ago a few readers told me that they were poor quality and didn’t wash well. Even though I didn’t actually find this myself, I stopped buying t-shirts from Hush because the consensus was that they were poor quality and didn’t wash well. I do not want to be a woman who buys poor-quality, badly-washing garments.
But for the last five years I have been unable to find a nice white t-shirt. I have looked everywhere and tried many, but every time I go to my t-shirt drawer I find I really don’t want to wear any of them. And more or less every single morning I think to myself “Damn. I really need to find a good white t-shirt.” So last week I went on to the Hush website and bought myself three of their white t-shirts and one black one and I CANNOT believe it’s taken me so long.
How about you? Have you managed to get your shit together yet? No judgment if not. Please leave any amusing or enlightening comment that springs to mind in the handy box below.
Hush t shirts are the best, my favourite grey one has finally disintegrated and I’m devastated. About to go back to 16:8 and no booze between Sunday night and Friday...
Plus I obviously really need to know a lot more about the pyjamas.