I have been walking for\u2026well let\u2019s see\u2026yeah, about 40 years now.\u00a0 And you would think that after 40 years of walking that I would have learned by now that that when one intends to go to the mall shopping, one should wear their comfortable shoes!\u00a0 \u00a0Just like you\u2019d think I would have learned that when going to Disneyland it would be wise to wear comfortable shoes, or when going out in the snow it would be wise to wear warm shoes.\u00a0 Yeah, you would think\u2026right?!?\u00a0 But no, no those callouses on my heels and those blisters on my toes have clearly not taught me yet the important life lesson that when one intends to do a lot of walking, that one should wear their comfy shoes!<\/p>\n
And so tonight, after a marathon day of taking my daughter shopping for Spring clothes, wearing my most uncomfortable shoes, I sit nursing blisters on my feet thinking \u201cwhat the heck is wrong with me that I have not learned my lesson by now?!?\u201d\u00a0 Seriously – I am a grown woman!\u00a0\u00a0 And I know full well that if I am going to have to walk a lot in a day, that if I don\u2019t wear appropriate shoes I will surely get blisters.\u00a0 I knew that when I left the house this morning.\u00a0 So then why???\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t I choose the comfortable shoes?<\/p>\n
I can tell you why.\u00a0 I wore the uncomfortable shoes because they were cute.\u00a0 Now if that is not the dumbest answer I have ever heard then I don\u2019t know what is.\u00a0 But that is the truth. I wore the uncomfortable shoes today because they looked good with my outfit.\u00a0 Plain and simple.\u00a0 And tonight I am paying the price for it as I sit nursing my sore blistered toes.<\/p>\n
Thinking about what lesson I should learn from my experience today, it strikes me that these stupid things we sometimes do are not as rare an occurrence as we probably wish they were.\u00a0 How many times do we do something unwise, knowing full well that there will be consequences<\/span> for our actions, but justifying our behavior because of something silly or shallow?\u00a0 And how often do we come to the end of our day and sit nursing our wounds from consequences that could have been avoided all together if we had just made the smarter choice up front?<\/p>\n So often we do unwise things for the dumbest reasons – such as \u201cyeah but they look cute\u201d – let\u2019s face it, that was a dumb reason.\u00a0 But at the time when I was dressing this morning I let that reason matter enough to put on the pair of shoes that I knew would cause me pain later, telling myself \u201csurely this time it will be fine\u2026maybe if I just walk carefully I won\u2019t get any blisters today\u2026I am sure I can handle it\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s so easy to tell ourselves exactly what we want to hear when we are trying to justify a dumb decision, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I swear we all become master negotiators with ourselves with the most ingenious arguments to back up the stupid choice we want to make.\u00a0 Yet when the actions have been taken and we are left to sit and face the consequences of our bad decisions, it\u2019s always the same story\u2026\u201dhow could I have been so dumb?\u00a0 It\u2019s not like I didn\u2019t know better\u201d…<\/p>\n We can\u2019t take back our stupid decisions we have made in our past, and we can\u2019t get rid of the consequences we face today for the bad decisions we made yesterday.\u00a0 But what we can do is to be smart enough to learn from our mistakes and setup boundaries to keep ourselves from making those same mistakes again in our future.\u00a0 Sometimes it may be necessary to set traps for ourselves that will catch us if we are about to do something dumb \u2013 for example, I seriously need to put a post-it note on my shoes I wore today as a future note to myself that reads \u201cno matter how cute these look they are not worth the pain you will feel later\u201d.\u00a0 That way when the master negotiator in me gets started with the \u201cthey are so cute\u2026surely this time it will be fine\u201d, the stronger and smarter Amy will see the note and say \u201cI am not falling for your lies this time\u2026no, this time I will wear the comfortable shoes that won\u2019t cause me pain later on.\u201d\u00a0 It may sound juvenile to have to write future notes to myself, but what is more juvenile?\u00a0 Writing a future note to myself, or making a dumb decision that will cause me pain later on?\u00a0 I say WRITE THE NOTE!\u00a0 Do whatever reminders and tricks you can to make sure you don\u2019t repeat the dumb mistakes you have made in the past.\u00a0 You are smarter than that.\u00a0 And no bad decision is worth the consequences you have to pay for them later.\u00a0 So the morale of today\u2019s story is, for heaven\u2019s sake people, be smart enough to wear the comfortable shoes!!!<\/p>\n ~Amy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been walking for\u2026well let\u2019s see\u2026yeah, about 40 years now.\u00a0 And you would think that after 40 years of walking that I would have learned by now that that when one intends to go to the mall shopping, one should wear their comfortable shoes!\u00a0 \u00a0Just like you\u2019d think I would have learned that when 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