Saturday, January 27, 2018

FMB: Middle Age Is Very Freeing

I have a pair of bright orange shoes, which bring me joy because they are bright and I love bright colors:

I wear them with my carefully cultivated work-persona clothes, which I choose to meet three criteria: available for cheap; will prevent injury in lab; and convey "I'm in charge here." They're usually neutral colors with bright accents.  

Anyhow, last semester, one of my (male) students looked at my black-dress-and-grey-blazer-and-orange shoes outfit and sighed.  "Dr. S, My life goal is to have enough confidence to wear orange shoes like that.  Those are great shoes."

I very nearly told him "All you have to do is not give a !@%# what anyone thinks, dear. Give it time." 

7 comments:

  1. *applause*

    ... I mean, not that you need it.

    But it's amazing, and gratifying, when you run out of !@%#s, isn't it? (And they ARE great shoes.)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! They are my favorite. I have a matching orange summer blazer too!

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  2. Zenmoo8:40 AM

    I have orange shoes that I wear for the same reason (except, they are not so comfortable), Yes. Midlife can be very very freeing.

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    Replies
    1. I will be 37 next month and I have very few fucks left to give. It's pretty great.

      Orange shoes represent!

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  3. I occasionally wear a yellow pinafore dress covered in dinosaurs for much the same reason. With a black polo-neck, opaque black tights and black loafers, I look relatively respectable and "normal" from a distance. And then there are the dinosaurs. I'm 43. It's taken a while to give so few *&%*s that I can wear dinosaurs, but it's very freeing :)

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    Replies
    1. Ooooh, I could sew myself a dinosaur dress! EXCELLENT idea

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  4. Amelie6:25 PM

    Yes. So much. Admittedly I've always been rather colorful about my clothing, but also lived in places where this is not totally outside the norm. My friends now complain when I wear a blue sweater ;) So my not giving a damn goes more in the direction of, 'yes I have a small kid and a job I like', because in my home country and extended family, that's still considered almost incompatible. Welcome to the 21st century.

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