About a year ago, I bought a pair of leather pants.
Clearly a necessity, right? Maybe not.
But a thrift store find that includes perfect fitting leather pants for $1 was an opportunity I thought foolish to pass up.
But for the past year, they’ve just sat in my dresser drawer, untouched.
I keep waiting for the day when I randomly need them for something, but that seems unlikely.
Why on earth would someone need leather pants?
But a while ago, I pulled them out of my drawer and wore them all day.
And you know what I realized? Wearing leather pants all day brought me joy.
A bit of a weird example, but bear with me.
I was waiting for a reason to wear them, even though I kind of knew there wouldn’t really be one.
So, I decided that “I want to wear them” was a good enough reason.
My sister gets married this June. About four months ago, we went looking at a wedding dress she really liked in some basement boutique. (Sounds sketchy but it was actually really neat.)
While we were there, I saw a really pretty blue dress IN MY SIZE hanging on a rack. I fell in love almost instantly but knew I most likely wouldn’t be able to afford it. I checked the tag anyway, and you know what it read?
Ten dollars.
$10.
I immediately tried the dress on, loved it even more, and bought it.
I knew I didn’t have an event to wear the dress to. I knew that it would probably just sit in my closet for three years until I outgrew it and donated it.
But, ignoring my voice of reason like I so frequently do, I bought it anyway.
I wore it around the house the next day and got really excited. I wanted to wear it, like, for real.
So I texted a friend of mine and explained my predicament. We made plans to get dressed up, grab lunch, and walk around downtown the next week.
And we did! It made me very happy to finally wear the dress that I loved so much.
I didn’t have a reason to wear it, so I made one.
Yes, both my examples happen to involve clothes but I swear my point is more inclusive.
I feel like so many times we wait for a reason to do something. A reason to get dressed up. A reason to start a hobby. A reason to call a friend.
A reason to be happy.
But why do we need a reason to do what we want to do?
Why can’t I want to be a good enough reason?
Say you want to be a photographer, but you don’t have a camera. Why do you need to wait? Use your phone camera and get things started.
Always wanted to write a book, but didn’t have a good reason to? Make a reason.
Make I want to the reason.
Why do we put off the things that bring us joy? What is it about not having a reason that stops us from doing what we want to?
I’m going to get dressed up because I want to, even if I am not leaving the apartment. I am going to write a song because I want to, even if I never share it with anyone. I am going to dance around to musical theatre soundtracks because I want to, even if I don’t know how to dance.
I will not procrastinate joy.
I hope you don’t, either.
What is something that you are waiting for a reason to do?
What if you just did it?
Actually Adulting 