Wear Totally the Wrong Shoes for a Happier, More Meaningful, Life!

Beautiful Readers,

What the hell happens to us as we start getting more of what we want?
How did a mere six block trip to the gym in a giant, wildly beautiful, snowstorm turn into an hour of hunting for a certain pair of Gortex lined boots? What is going on here? For more than an hour this afternoon, I drifted, unthinkingly, through my apartment, trance-like, rythmically turning over every boot I own in an effort to find the ones that I had bought for a snowy occasion just like this. Two hours later I still have not left.

I mean, after all, if my feet get cold on the way to the gym then it might take awhile for the them to warm up while I work out…and that might be uncomfortable. Oh wait, I know, maybe if I wear wool socks and then change once I get there…oh but then I need a locker because what if  my fancy boots get stolen, I mean they’re pretty nice after all– and where are the wool socks? Maybe with the ski stuff? Hmm, and I should wear a hat, but I really don’t like hats, and I think I might even be slightly allergic to the fur inside the one I have been wearing.

 Now, I’m not sure how this all seems to those of you reading. Boring I’m guessing. But from this end it’s more than that. It’s a warning. A warning that if I don’t put an end to this kind of micro-focused self-coddling nonsense right away my life could quickly turn into an existential nightmare a la the unbearably twee parents in some 80’s brat pack film.  This kind of natural smallness, folks, may be my greatest fear, and it should be yours too. It’s much more likely to take you out than anything more exciting. It is the darkness that is always at the door of a  safe and stable world. And it is not benign.

I am convinced that personal smallness and cumulative petty fears  are perhaps the greatest contributors to aging and depression and age-related depression. Smallness and tightness and meanness and boredom are much more common enemies in life than anything more dramatic. Wouldn’t it be great if the thing you should fear most wore black, dripped with blood, and taunted you with fire? It would be so much easier if your soul was jeopardized most by some kind of fearsome Beelzebub just seething with action-packed torment!

But really it’s Gortex lined boots that you should fear most. Or always needing skim milk in your latte, or being afraid of rain or snow. Or being afraid to look bad. Or doing the wrong thing. Or being a terrible dancer. Or picking the wrong person. Or what your neighbors think of anything.  Or whether or not to return that hat you bought. Or feeling upset you burned the sausage and filled the house with smoke.

I’ve gotta go now–out into the blizzard.

Thanks for reading!

Alix

President; Beautiful Fitness