The Psychology of Shoes

If you mention Dorothy, most people think "Wizard of Oz," which leads to thoughts of yellow brick roads, the wizard behind the curtain and the journey to make it back home.  There is a tremendous amount of depth to "The Wizard of Oz" and certainly literary elements to be explored and applied to life.  What I'm most interested in today however are her ruby slippers, shoes that have the power to return you to comfort and home.

I know that some women go crazy for shoes, just as I'm quite certain there are men out there that go crazy for shoes too.  I'm not a crazy shoe person.  In fact, six out of seven days a week, you'll likely find me wearing tennis shoes.  I wear what is comfortable.  In my attempts to organize my home in the last several days I started out not wearing shoes at all.  I'd spend all day in socks or bare feet working around my house.  What I discovered after one day of this was that my feet and ankles were sore and tender.  While I'm sure there's more than one explanation for why I felt that way, I decided to try wearing shoes to see if that would help my problem.  I began having flashbacks of my mom making my siblings and I put our shoes on as "part of getting ready for the day, just like brushing your teeth."  I didn't understand the purpose then, but mother's know best and I understand it now!  I found that not only did wearing my shoes keep my feet from hurting at the end of the day, they made me more productive.  I got all sorts of things done while wearing my shoes!

If it hasn't already been done, I think someone should do a study about the psychology of shoes.  When I googled that idea, "psychology of shoes," the articles that I encountered revolved around the observers perspective of shoes.  By that I mean, writers attempted to explain or discuss the reason for shoe selection, the obsession of shoe shopping or the impressions we all get when we notice other people's shoes.  What I would be interested in is the personal feeling attached to shoes.  For example, tennis shoes make me feel productive and energetic.  Heels on the other hand make me feel clumsy and awkward.  At times I choose my shoes not only based on my outfit, but on how I want to feel.  If I want to feel tall and confident, I wear boots.  If I want to feel stylish, I choose a pair of sandals.  For me the choice of what shoes I wear is more about how I want to feel that day than anything else.  Certainly the outfit plays a part, but the feelings are important too.  Have you ever thought about why you choose the shoes that you do?  Do you feel differently because of how you dress your feet?  I like this quote by Adriana Trigiani...

"...it's not so much about the shoes, but the person wearing them."

I told you that tennis shoes make me feel productive and energetic...I've worn my tennis shoes a lot in the last few days.  I got to a point in my house cleaning/organizing that I couldn't finish one room before starting another one.  I needed to work in multiple rooms, so before and after shots aren't plentiful here, but I did take one. This is the before of my dining room table...

Like other people, my dining table is my catch all...obviously.  I have a small house.  It's a wonderful house, but it's not a big house.  This is the only eating area in my home.  I don't use it for that purpose.  I can count on one hand the number of times I've sat at the table to eat in the last year, and I only sat at it then because I had family here.  That's how I view dining rooms....a place for family.  For my family the dining room is the place where all of the important stuff happens.  It's the place for meals, conversations and games.  We've laughed, cried, fought and talked around that table.  It is the center of our family communication.  I don't have a family.  Sitting at my table alone doesn't provide the filling experiences of my childhood, quite the opposite, it's uncomfortable and leaves a feeling of emptiness.  That being the case, I don't sit there to eat.  I sit on the couch or in my recliner and watch TV.  Another practice that wasn't a part of my upbringing...the TV isn't on during meal times at the Jones household.  Since I don't sit there to eat, the clutter that fills the table is incredibly common.  With company coming however, there will be people sitting at my table, so I've cleaned everything up and come up with this....

Jury's out on whether that charger will stay or not...I may switch that out for a white one.  I'm not certain I like the red glass beads in that vase either...I may rethink those.  I'm also going to get creative about napkin rings, I'll probably make some out of ribbon, but I haven't done that yet.  Despite my aversion to using this table for what it's meant, I don't mind decorating it.  One of those things I'd lost the joy in doing, but have felt better about in the last week.  I've also cooked a couple of times.  It's easier to find joy in doing things like cooking and decorating when you're in an organized space.  In fact that mentality reminds me of Mama Bear in The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room.  Like mealtime conversations and family games, the Berenstain Bears books were a staple in our house for their enjoyment as well as their lessons.  Enjoying organization is the message of that particular title.

People have asked me before why my blog posts are so sad.  I don't set out to write about sad things or to portray a melancholy existence.  I just set out to share my experiences with my life journey.  I choose parts of myself to share that I think might help my readers understand me a little better and that might allow me to experience a little self-made therapy.  Acknowledging my faults and flaws, then outlining the steps, albeit small steps, I'm taking to better myself and my life, provide me with accountability to complete those steps.

"The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them."

-Unknown