Heel to
Toe
The best way to begin a new task is to just do it. Put one foot in front of the other, heel to toe;
sometimes though, I have to admit, it can be hard to get motivated.
We all are busy and let’s face it, we could all use a few
extra hours in our day. So, when I decided to clean
out my closet I didn’t waste any time, I went straight to the shoes. Suddenly, time stood still--My shoes (it seems) took me
back, back to the time of purchasing (many hours spent trying various styles on), to the time when
I scuffed the pink
“patents” on the tree stump during my walk in the park with my dog
or to the time when my son spilled blue ice cream on my new white
sneaks.
What is it about
our relationship with shoes? My husband has a
dozen pair of Nikes and they all look, basically, the same.
I guess he could argue that my 10 pair of black shoes does, too. I sat in my closet thinking about my shoes and how I needed
to get them in some semblance of order. That’s when I
decided to give my friend, Jennifer, the ultimate closet guru a call. She made it very simple; she gave me a few common sense tips:
-
Remove clothes
immediately from dry cleaning bags to prevent chemical absorption on clothes.
-
Put shoes heel to
toe on shelves to save space in your closet and see heel length at a quick
glance.
-
Keep clothes on
thin plastic hangers to save space, keep clothing shape and avoid stretching them out, and to make
the closet look uniform.
Standing in the closet doorway, hesitant to go in, I said to
myself, “I know I can do all of this, but why can’t I get it done?” Then I realized, it all goes back to time and the most
important element, getting started. Heel
to toe, I stepped in and started franticly pulling boxes off the shelves.
Then, as I sat there among the green and pink
flower slides and the baby-blue loafers I decided
that:
I would dedicate just
“5” minutes a day for the next week just to my closet.
Picking up the colorful “soles” I felt some sense of
accomplishment.
Well, the next day turned into 10 minutes, then the next day 15,
and so on. It seems, once you’re “in the
closet” you don’t really want to come “out of the closet”.
I found, what I thought was lost forever-- favorite sweaters,
jeans (that still don’t fit) and purses that I was sure I had given away.
What fun it was to go shopping in my closet, complete with
colorful bags from a variety of stores—lined with dust of course!
By day
“7” I was proudly standing in my closet inspecting my new matching plastic swivel-headed
hangers and the newfound space –minus the shoeboxes, when I realized that placing my shoes heel to
toe was really my new mantra.
“Heel to Toe, Heel to Toe” It would be my
new take on life. Take baby steps towards positive
change and improvements and don’t look back!
Never look back!
Diets, parenting,
friendships, exercise, writing—it all comes down to accepting that good things take
time and mistakes will occur along the way. As
long as I put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward life would be good.
As for that blue ice
cream stain? I think, it is actually a
good thing, a cherished moment, much like my week of reminiscing with my closet of
memories—my old and sometimes shiny new friends.
“I
want to walk ‘in her shoes’ so I can
completely understand her-
Share her thoughts, feelings and dreams.”
---Beth Aldrich 2003
