Why save getting ready for a visitor or an invitation? Even when we are staying at home, we can do our hair and wear something we like. I want us to give ourselves some of the attention we readily give an occasion or another person.
Appreciating ourselves without comparison
I want women to recognise their own qualities. One woman may be better at something while another has different strengths. Neither person can be summed up by that comparison. Taking pleasure in something about ourselves gives us no reason to diminish anyone else.
How we speak and treat people
We notice how a person looks when we meet them. Then we hear how they speak and see how they behave with others. Their attention to small things, their respect for our time, and their sense of what they owe people all become part of the impression. I want the person we discover in conversation to live up to the care we first saw in their appearance.
Self-respect has a place in our relationships
Self-respect also enters the decisions we make about spending time with people. Do we want to be there, or are we agreeing because we are afraid of being thought rude? We can be considerate and still know what we are willing to accept. Our time belongs in that decision.
I also want us to enjoy occasions whether or not we have a partner. We can give ourselves a present, celebrate with children or friends, and do something we like. An occasion we would enjoy need not pass simply because nobody else arranged it for us.
That is how appearance and character belong together for me. We take care of what we see in the mirror, respect the person looking back, and carry that respect into our dealings with others. Getting ready becomes one part of how we choose to live.