I woke up on Memorial Day with one thing in mind: I had absolutely nothing to do. I had no parties to go to, no family members were coming over that I had to feed, all I planned on doing for the entirety of the day was sitting in my chair, listening to music, watching TV, and reading. I was thrilled. I very rarely get a day all to myself, so the prospect of having one was something I was completely looking forward to.

So, I got up, made breakfast, scrolled through “Facebook” for longer than I care to admit, and then I went upstairs to get ready for my day.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. I just said I had nothing to do. Why, then, did I have to “get ready” if I planned on sitting on the couch all day?

I ran into that same problem. So often, mainly because I’ve been conditioned to believe this, I get ready for the day, even if I don’t plan on doing much. I don’t mean that I put on all my makeup and do my hair and put on my finest clothes every day because I just don’t have the patience for that.

But, even when I plan on doing absolutely nothing, I feel the need to fix my hair, even though I’ll I’m doing is just going through the drive-thru at McDonalds’s to acquire French fries, I have this terrible urge to change out of my sweats (or leggings, or yoga pants, or whatever type of comfortable loungewear I have on).

So, I made the decision on Monday to just…not get ready. I didn’t fix my hair, I didn’t change out of my pajamas, the only things I really did were brush my teeth and my hair. I literally did nothing, and it was one of the best feelings in the world.

We’re so obsessed in this day and age with looking our “best,” no matter what it is we may or may not be doing, but it’s so important to just let yourself be “ugly.” There’s no need to put on makeup if you’re just making a quick run to the grocery store, there’s no need to change your clothes and fix your hair if the only thing you’re doing that day is sitting at home.

This is important for another reason though, one I didn’t immediately understand, but one that I realized later on as I was contemplating how freeing it was to just not care about how I looked.

Nine times out of ten, it is almost impossible for a person, any person, to look at themselves and think “wow, my acne isn’t that bad” or “you know what, I actually like my stretch marks.” That takes years of reconditioning, and although being body positive is a good thing, allowing yourself the freedom to just be is important as well.

Waking up in the morning and thinking “you know what? I’m ugly, and that’s ok, there’s more to life than what I look like” is so much easier than waking up in the morning and forcing yourself to see those things you don’t like about yourself as something beautiful. Self-love and body positivity are still self-love and body positivity, whether its admiring the things you should hate about yourself, or just acknowledging that those things are there but they aren’t important.

Leaning to wake up in the morning and not feel attractive in some way but not care about it gives you the freedom to focus on other things, like living, instead of spending constant hours examining and evaluating your appearance.