Listen, honey, we have all seen those girls on Instagram who wake up looking like a glazed donut. But in the real world, adulthood is just a series of messy buns and stained t-shirts. These glow downs are my spirit animal. Who has time for a full face of makeup when there is a 40-hour work week and a bag of chips with my name on it? We are embracing the exhaustion because being a corporate casualty is the new baddie. Get comfortable.

Glow downs

There is a specific kind of bravery in showing the world your stained university t-shirt right next to your glam self-portrait. It is honest! These relatable transformations are a tribute to the physical toll that real life takes on a person. You see someone transitioning from a stylized baddie to working full time in an office with fluorescent lighting, and you just want to give them a hug and a coffee. It is that adulthood struggles energy that we all feel deep in our souls. We trade our night-out dresses for office-appropriate cardigans and sensible shoes because comfort is a luxury we can finally afford. I love the side-by-side of the girl smiling in a field versus her tired-looking car selfie. That is the stress express right there. The 2020 experience really did a number on our morning routines, didn’t it? We went from perfectly curled hair to the glorious freedom of a messy bun that hasn’t been brushed in three days. It is all about that tired mom energy, even if you don’t have kids. Just being an adult is enough to make you want to sleep for a thousand years. We are all in this together, embracing the stained shirts and the messy hair as a badge of honor.

Looking at these comparisons makes me feel so much better about the fact that I am currently wearing pajamas at 2 PM. We spent so much energy trying to look perfect in 2019, and now we are just happy if we remember to put on deodorant before a Zoom call. It is a comfort evolution that I am fully supporting. High-stress jobs and aging are just part of the deal, and if the only thing sparkling is our collective desire for a nap, then so be it. We are real, we are tired, and we are fabulous.

If you are currently wearing sweatpants while reading this, you should check out some work from home memes or maybe some funny motherhood fails for more relatable content. You might also like some self-care tips or even some lazy Sunday aesthetic photos to justify your next nap. We are all just trying to survive.