Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Touching a Nerve

FlyLady day one was a success.  I stopped up both sides of my kitchen sink and filled both sides with hot bleach water.  I let it sit for an hour--right at lunch time (a bit challenging).  After the timer went off, I rinsed the sink and cleaned it with comet.  After rinsing again, I sprayed it with Windex and wiped it.  It looks gorgeous now.  The Warden said he's never seen the faucet sparkle like that before.  YAY!

So, I looked ahead to day two.  This is where I get rebellious.  Yep, that's right, I make it all the way to day number two before I start balking at things.  This about sums me up.  Darned rebellious streak.  I can tell you which side of my family to blame, but I won't.  Let's just say it's not my mom's side.

Here's the deal.  FlyLady wants me to wear my shoes all day.  Not just shoes but lace up shoes.  I have an aversion to shoes.  I always have.  Barefoot is the way to be for me.  Inside...outside...it just doesn't matter.  Wearing shoes in the house is icky.  I'm not saying that you're weird for wearing shoes in the house.  I'm just saying it's weird for me.


I like to be footloose and fancy free.  So, no, I'm not wearing shoes tomorrow.  Rebel that I am.  To be honest, I own a pair of running shoes--that is the extent of my lace up shoes.  All of my shoes slip on so I can get out of them quickly.  I'm just strange like that.  Clogs are my best friends.  I'm not big on showing off my toes either.

Wow!  Do you think I might have some hang ups?  FlyLady has touched a nerve.  So, wish me luck with tomorrow.  Darned rebellious streak!

5 comments:

Alyson said...

It has been years and years since I unsubscribed to her mailing list, but I have to say truthfully that I never, ever wore shoes before FlyLady. I still only own two pair of lace-up shoes (mine are both running shoes too!). But I do wear shoes all day every day now, and I give her the credit. So many people balked about that rule that she had to explain it over and over. I discounted all the reasons I didn't want to hear (hah, I could give you a run for your money in the rebellion department!) but a few of her reasons still got through. "It's so that you're ready to walk out the door any time." "Your mind is in a different place when you're wearing shoes than when you aren't." "You look more put-together when you're wearing shoes." Slowly a few things like that penetrated and I realized, she was right. I do feel put together. I do feel dressed. I feel finished when I'm wearing shoes.

All of my shoes are slip-ons, most of them are little ballet flats. But I always keep 'em on. They're not just cast off around the house. And though Fly Lady gave me the idea, I keep doing it because I love that I can run out the door at any moment, and because I look finished, dressed, put together, ready for my day.

But I have always thought this about the lace-up shoes rule: Fly Lady will never know. We are all individuals, we all have our needs and our goals and our habits. Not wearing shoes? This is not a bad habit. It is just your preference. If you don't like untidy, then that (for you) is a bad habit, something you want to change. Not wearing shoes, though, isn't going to keep your home cleaner or messier. It just isn't. And I bet there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of Fly Lady's quieter followers who have pulled their lives together without lace-up shoes. :) If you don't think about it as a rebellion, but as a choice, will that make following the other positive parts of the program (the ones that really will help you) easier?

Lene said...

I was never very successful with the FlyLady's method because of the whole shoe thing. I don't like anyone to wear shoes in my house. All the yucky stuff dragged in my house on the botton of all those shoes? No thank you.

Corinne Ritz said...

Ditto to everything Alyson said. I was going to leave a comment saying all that same stuff! How funny! She beat me to it and worded it way better than I would have.

Jen said...

Am I dumb? I've never heard of FlyLady. I'm coming to realize I have a lot of things in life to learn. However, on the shoe thing, I'm all about slip ons! Whatever is easiest to come in and out of the house and take them off at the door.

Jenn Engler said...

Ummmm that rebellious streak just might partially be a holz thing. Don't count us out. I'm about as rebellious and stubborn as they come. And I really don't like shoes either.

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