Recently at work, during a meeting with a client I had a wake-up call. Lately, I had been thinking that there must be more to life, something else out there – I was having a mid-feb crisis!
So, I arrived to meet my client and as I walked into his office he laughed (out loud!). I smiled (doing that trying-to-be-in-on-the-joke thing) and carried on. My client then announced that he was going to buy me a new pair of shoes.
I work in the quarrying industry advising quarry operators on planning and geology issues. I don’t work in fashion. However, when I questioned my client as to why he was going to buy me some new shoes, he said
“Well, we had a bet as to whether you would turn up with your holey shoes on and you did, so I agreed to buy you a new pair of shoes!”
At that point, I had hoped that the ground would swallow me up.
I advised my client that he didn’t need to buy me any shoes. Then I looked down at my shoes, really looked at them and they were shocking! They were old and tatty but I thought that as I work in an industry full of men who wear overalls all day, who’s really going to notice! When I meet with professionals (or women) I wear my nice shoes! But somebody did notice and I was mortified.
That’s when I decided that walking in the same pair of (holey) shoes does get hard after a while and every now and then, it can make you feel a bit miserable. So I decided to change things. I instantly went on the Internet and bought a new pair of shoes– I needed them. I also bought some stilettos (which I didn’t need). I’ll probably never wear them and will have to bring them to the next swish party, but they are fabulous! All the same, it made me feel a bit more optimistic.
Somebody once said “A pair of shoes can change your life - just ask Cinderella”…….well, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?
Jessica x
