“A pair of shoes can change your life. Just ask Cinderella.” -Anonymous

Here lately I've been feeling down in the dumps. Despite this impending move, all that I have to get done, & the excitement I feel about this new adventure, I have still been feeling pretty low. Not motivated. I cry for no good reason. Just...bummed. I mean, I've seriously considered getting myself a therapist. Not that I have some huge opposition to therapy. I guess I've just always felt like "I got this." I just need a few days to wallow in it  & then get it under control. Then I'll be good, you know?

Truth be told, I probably should follow through with that phone call and maybe unburden myself of some of the heavier things on my plate. But that's not what this post is about. Today, it all doesn't feel quite as heavy as it has the past few months.  Why, you ask? I'm going to let you in a little secret of mine. Don't laugh. I swear this works. Well...it works for ME. It's something I've been doing for a long time. Here goes.

I woke up this morning and looked around and realized that in spite of the fact that I'm packing up for a big move, that my house was a hot mess. I mean a friggin disaster zone! I was appalled, I must confess. Faced with the mighty task of cleaning (UGH!) I could feel myself sliding down into the dumps again. So I went into my bedroom, then into my closet. I closed the door behind me and I tried on ALL of my shoes! All of them! (For those of you who KNOW me, you know what a tall order this is.)

After lovingly putting each pair on and doing a little strut and twirl in them, then moving on to the next pair for more of the same...I decided which ones I was deeming my favorites...for today. Then I put those back on and I went back into my room, I cranked up the radio to a great dance station and I got to it. I swept, I mopped. I did laundry. I folded it. (This is an especially irritating chore to me.) I washed dishes. I made the bed. I made breakfast and later on made lunch. I may have even danced a little bit! All the while in a gorgeous pair of super high heels.

Why, you ask? I'll tell ya. Because I started thinking about how GOOD I feel when I'm dressed up and wearing a great pair of heels. I realized that typically, I'd only wear them to go out & about, which I really don't do all that often. So WHY then, would I only put on my favorite shoes then and only then? If I can mimic that feeling more regularly than only when I leave my home, why not?!

I actually break my new shoes in this way. A full on clean up of the house. If I can clean two floors of home in them, I can surely dance for hours in them. It works!! It really does. If I start to blister, then I know that those may not be the best to go dance in and are maybe better suited to going to have a dinner or catch a show. Giggle if you want, but I've been doing this for years and it hasn't failed me yet.

Today though, my shoes served to simply put some (much needed!!) pep in my step. I felt good. Sexy! I felt like I should get through my chores & then head out for a night on the town. (Which I'm not doing since it's only 18 degrees out there.)  But I felt like I could. And sometimes, when the simplest act of just getting out of my PJs seems like such an overwhelming task, something as simple as a putting on a good pair of shoes can serve to cheer me up. Hell, maybe I don't need to make that phone call after all....  ; )