My Concrete Shoes

I had a dream at the start of the year, perhaps it was one of those dreams where you’re not sure if you’re awake or asleep, conscious or unconscious, at dawn or thereabouts. You know the time of night where your thoughts can be at times fear filled and catastrophising or magical and highly creative.

I was wearing concrete shoes. They were agony on my feet and I was attempting to live my life in them. Life was hard, I was virtually immobile and when I did manage to move it was with great pain, every movement brought more discomfort. Life was passing me by as others got on with living. I was trailing behind in agony. I woke myself up.

The beauty of this metaphor was not lost on me. Yes, I was living in concrete shoes. I was stagnant, procrastinating and despondent. Not the words to describe someone living their life to the full are they?

I made a cup of tea and sat back in bed and let my mind wander and fill with thoughts of these concrete shoes. I came to realise that I’d been wearing them for quite some time.

They were my excuse for not taking steps forward. Oh believe me, I had a long list of ‘reasons’ I wasn’t living the life I wanted to be living (as we all do). I talk with clients about their list of reasons (read excuses for that if you will) for not taking decisions, making choices for their lives. I ask them how long they are prepared to lie to themselves, and here I was asking myself the very same questions. Was I using these concrete shoes as a real chance to self nurture (somehow think I’d have chosen sheepskin slippers if that were the case) or had I got comfortable with my excuses? Be aware that at times what we see as procrastination is really a cry for help from our inner self for some R&R. Listen to and trust your instinct.

I learned a lot from playing around with these concrete shoes and came up with some questions.

How comfortable am I in my concrete shoes?

What excuses valid or questionable am I making right now?

How long m I planning on wearing these shoes?

What is their purpose in my life?

What are they stopping me from doing?

What shoes would I rather be wearing? Pumps, Converse, Louboutins? How different would my life be?

Photo credit: Miss Karen