Elisabeth Rohm Helps Me Think About Who I Want To Be

Elisabeth Röhm, actress on Law and Order, blogs about being a mom to 3½-year-old Easton August with Ron Anthony for People.

Her New Year’s resolution? To dump the “mom clothes.”

“So here it is. I shudder to say it out loud, PEOPLE.com, but I knew it was true when the last and final person (my trying-to-be-sensitive-but-not-quite-achieving-it other half) said it. Ron told me that I wear too many “mom clothes.””

I’m up in mental fuzz trying to figure out where I stand on the issue.

I mean, I know I wear mom clothes: comfy jeans, nursing shirts, and cuddly cardigans—the question is—is there anything wrong with that?

Rohm explains that she “started to go for practicality and comfort rather than style and expression. It happens. We all talk about it. We even laugh about it, as if we are proud to wear our badge of mom honor by displaying those too long sweaters that resemble tents, rather the fitted ones of the past. But I think I may have gone too far, perhaps over the edge into the tacky shoes department.”

It feels like to me that with my lifestyle there’s no point in going through the trouble of dressing up. I mean, I’m at home—chasing three little kids, writing, and teaching online. The only people who see me love me no matter what I wear.

I guess the big question is—is it important to me? Would I feel better about myself if I dolled up a little once in a while?

Rohm asks: ““Where have I stashed my former self?” I was thinking yesterday as I ate my bagel with too much cream cheese (yes, part of my mom getup is some extra poundage — I’m going to shed that too).”

Yes, that’s the part I need to figure out. Am I hiding away behind my slouchy clothes as a way to hide from my “former self”? And if so, why?

I don’t want to hide my self—whoever she might be.

Who am I?

A mom? A former stripper? Or Sheila?

Hmm…or all of these selves.

Maybe I need to give some of those other selves a little time.

Or not...

Sigh...