Why girls seriously hate jeans.

Is there anything worse than packing? Well, yes…un-packing. But packing is just dreadful. Talk about commitment issues. There aren’t many things scarier than the moment you zip up your suitcase and lug it down the steps. That final zip means you are committing to the items in your suitcase for the duration of your journey. There’s no turning back. The heaping pile of clothes flung across your floor and bed that didn’t make the cut can’t bail you out once you roll your suitcase to the car.

In my eyes, there are two ways to pack. Both methods equally as nerve racking.

1.Put all my favorite clothes in a suitcase and create outfits upon arrival. These are usually all the clothes finishing up in the dryer as I’m trolling the weather at my destination. I love these items so much that I most likely just wore them, hence why I’m doing a wash. In this method, I throw in the only pair of jeans I can always count on. Then throw in my skinny jeans for Day 1 of the trip when I know they’ll still fit. I throw in a pair of my favorite leggings, a current favorite hoodie that can pass as a cute outfit and my most photogenic shirts. Layer in for solid staples and top that bag off with an article of clothing or seven “just in case.”

2. Pack actual outfits for each day. Commit to certain clothes on certain days of the trip and throw in a very scarce amount of extras in case there is a change in the weather.

This past weekend I went away to Nashville for my future sister in laws bachelorette party. I packed option 2 style.

The first night I committed to a romper and booties. Went out in that romper, had a great time at a piano bar and moved on. I woke up on Day 2 confident about my packing abilities so far. Day 2 we had outfits assigned to wear. Matching bachelorette party shirts, obv. Cowboys boots, obv. Flannel shirts over our matching bachelorette shirts, obvs. But there wasn’t anything in the email about pants. Shit. Jeans or leggings?!

Jeans or leggings… Why is that decision literally SO hard. Every single time. Every single day. My head says jeans but my heart always says leggings.

Well, I decided to rock the jeans. I had eaten fairly healthy leading up to the trip and ripped jeans were so Nashville. I love looking the part. I put on my jeans though that morning and they felt very snug. I headed to the lobby to meet for breakfast analyzing why these jeans felt so tight. Was the alcohol last night already causing water retention? Was I bloated from the plane? Did I just dry these? What could I blame this tightness on to calm the anxiety mounting. Sitting at breakfast I was literally so uncomfortable in my jeans. Sure I was listening to the conversation but all I could really think about was the button digging into my lower stomach, the denim line imprint forming on the inside of my thighs and the way my skin was poking out of the hole in the knee of the jeans.

After serious debate and scanning every other girls outfit I surrendered to the fact that it wasn’t going to be a jeans day. I ran back to my room and put on my favorite workout pants that can obviously also pass as black leggings. Instant relief. Instant happiness. Literally was SO comfortable all day. The only issue, I felt internally angry at myself that my jeans didn’t fit.

And after my own personal jeans debacle I hated everything I packed.

So what is it about jeans? Why are jeans SO judgmental? They are worse than the scale. Many of us don’t even realize that we let jeans dictate our moods the same way we let the scale. Success is wearing jeans. Failure is wearing leggings. If they are loose, it’s a good day. If they are tight, it’s a bad day. Jeans mean thin, leggings mean fat. Jeans mean put together, leggings mean lazy. Crazy beliefs we have picked up over the years that simply are not true.

The same way 4 million things can make the scale fluctuate, 4 million things can change the way jeans fit us day to day.

Let’s embrace the days we can wear jeans comfortably and forgive ourselves on the days we can’t. Nothing in our lives change if we’re going through the day in jeans or leggings.

And if you can’t be with the jeans you love, then love the leggings your with.