Day 3: Clothing

Think of the closet clutter and decision fatigue you could cut down if you didn’t have to have five different washes of jeans in eleven different styles. (Cropped! High-rise! Skinny! Flared! Skinny flared! Flared cropped skinny! Boyfriend! Girlfriend! Rock star! Jalapeño popper!)

Most of us make a dozen decisions or more just picking out our clothes for the day. This process is repeated every morning. Add a preschooler, a toddler, and a shifting postpartum figure to the mix, and you have a recipe for decision fatigue with a smattering of self-hatred thrown in for good measure. Each and every morning.

A Lenten Experiment

Then it hit me. Maybe this Lent I could pare down my wardrobe, simplify my mornings, and eliminate my daily closet-initiated decision fatigue all at the same time: I would give up wearing colors. I began folding all my colorful shirts and pants and dresses and stowing them in a bin. After half an hour or so, all that remained on my shelves and hangers were shades and combinations of black, white, and denim. Perfect. 

Cut to a year past the end of Lent, and now when I get dressed, I have time to clear my head, settle my thoughts, go over my calendar, talk to Jesus. I have time to look into the eyes of my kids (often while yelling, “DON’T TOUCH THE FLATIRON, IT’S HOT!”). I only make two or three decisions in my closet instead of a dozen or more.

Getting dressed has grown exponentially easier. The simplicity of my wardrobe brings me near-constant joy.

Reflection/Discussion Questions

1. “The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain,” according to science writer John Tierney. (It’s why we are more likely to make an impulsive candy purchase in the grocery store checkout line than in the first aisles of the store.) How does getting dressed in the morning contribute to your day’s decision fatigue?
2. Think of the woman of Proverbs 31, clothed not in the latest Pantone hue, or the greatest Israelite trunk show jewelry, but in strength and dignity. In the New Testament, Peter reminds the women in the church that their beauty should come from within,  not from their trendy clothing or stylish hair. How can fewer options actually be a blessing? In what areas of your wardrobe do you have too      much of a good thing?
3. In what ways would a limited color palette or reducing the number of clothing items you own appeal to you?
4. Read Isaiah 26:3–4. What role does peace play in your morning routine? How can you arrange your mornings to better accept God’s gift of peace?
5. How might decision fatigue drain valuable emotional energy from spiritual things? What spiritual practices do you wish you had more energy or time for? What is one step you can take this week to arrange, pare down, or reorganize your wardrobe to make more time for the things you described?