Be true to yourself!

I was talking with a friend the other day and she mentioned being a different person to hopefully be more “liked” by a person or a group.  She was telling me how exhausting it was and asked if I had ever felt like this.  I think as humans we all have the need to feel included, liked, a part of a group, etc.  The question is how far we will go to feel that way?  I think in a group setting there are always compromises we’ll make like, “Sure I’ll have Mexican food versus the Italian food I was craving.”, but will we compromise what we truly like and who we truly are to fit in? 

I am reminded of the Runaway Bride movie where the character does not know how she likes her eggs cooked because she likes whatever kind of egg the man she is dating likes.  In dating I have had men assume I like a certain kind of music, or how I want them to be to please me, and then they come off as disingenuous.  I have had to tell some of them, “Please just be yourself.”  How am I supposed to see if we are truly compatible if I don't really know who they really are?  

I still remember years ago working as a human resource manager where we were having a fun off-site event planned.  One of the employees came to my office and said, “We’re going to have so much fun and we’re going to get you drunk.”  I will have a drink or two, but I have personally made the decision in my life to never get drunk.  It is a choice.  I don’t want to lose judgment, I don’t need liquid courage, I don’t need to feel hung over, nor do I want to pass out.  Most of all, I don’t need to drink to have a good time.  This is a personal decision and I told my co-worker that I had made the decision never to get drunk in my lifetime.  I remember him walking away and looking disappointed.  At that moment I thought to myself, “If he is a true friend then he will accept me for who I am, and if he does not then he is not a true friend. “  He and his group of friends were still my friends after I said that. 

Let’s face it, we all want to be accepted for who we are, and so why not be to others?  Not being authentic is exhausting, and by being true to ourselves we come off as authentic and genuine which then comes off as confidence.  Everyone likes a confident person, and in the end we want to surround ourselves by people who like us for who we are and not for who we pretend to be.  So go forth and be true to yourself!  Authenticity is one key to happiness!  

Tie up those laces and start walkin'!

I know it's been ages since I've written.  A lot of things have happened since I last wrote, like a trip to Iceland in the summer of 2012 which was amazing, and this summer I went to Europe.  Europe is the country of walking and when you travel to Europe you know you're going to be spending a lot of time hitting the pavement.  Before I left in June I thought I'd get a cool pair of Converse tennis shoes.  They seemed comfortable, they were a hip purple blue, and everyone wears them right?  The answer is yes, and I saw a ton of them while in Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany. Well I wore them for one day while I was on a trip in Idaho and I could not see myself walking for miles in them.  Yeah, they're a cool shoe and all, they are comfy to a certain extent, but they are on the heavier side and with little arch support.  

So while I was in Idaho I happened to be at Silver Creek Outfitters and voila there was "the shoe".  I picked it up, it had arch support, it was the lightest tennis shoe I've picked up thus far, and it had color.  I haven't worn all white athletic tennis shoes probably since high school and that is one travel tip I've always gotten when planning to travel to another country.  Never wear white athletic tennis shoes!  It screams, "I'm an American!" and sad to say us Americans aren't loved in all nations.  So I try this Merrell Mix Master Move Glide (quite the mouthful eh?) in orange and gray, and it's fantastic.  There's enough room in the toe box so that when your feet get swollen from walking there's plenty of room without pinching.  It seems light as air, and I was sold.  Ironically my good friend and best travel buddy ever bought the same shoe (without knowing I bought it) the very same weekend.  She got them in bright blue.  Good friends see eye to eye on a lot of things, even good tennis shoes! 

So did they pass the European walking test?  Yep, they became a fast favorite!  They were comfortable, hip, light, and I didn't have to "break them in".  I have gotten to the age that when a salesman tells me that the shoe will take awhile to break in but leather always softens up quickly, I just sort of look at them thinking..."You just want the sale buddy and I'm not stupid enough (anymore) to fall for that line."  Enough pinched toes, the starting of bunions, blisters, and cutting into my feet have taught me how to say, "No, I think I'll keep looking."

Not only did these shoes pass the European walking test but I decided to take a 25 mile walk in them one day this month.  I work for a retailer part-time and joined what is called the Global Corporate Challenge which has participants worldwide.  Global Corporate Challenge is a 4 month challenge where we wear a pedometer that counts our steps each day.  We log in our steps, and are in teams of 7 people.  The hope is that we would walk at least 10,000 steps per day which is equivalent to 5 miles.  We have mini challenges, we get trophies for hitting weight goals, step goals for the month, and we compete against teams around the world.  A few weeks ago the mini challenge was to walk 100,000 steps in a week which is 50 miles.  So me being me, I decided to walk what I thought was 20 miles. I figured it would be an experience since I had walked 12.5 miles in a day in Italy, so why not 20 miles in California?  It turned out that it took me 12.5 miles to get to my goal destination and 12.5 to get back. Can I just say that my leg muscles cramped up like crazy, I was in pain, but as a former athlete in high school I kept telling myself, "Mind over matter, just push it. Push past the pain."  I hate giving up so I trucked it all the way home.  I was even crazy enough to think that I could put in 1.2 more miles to make it marathon length, but my legs were giving out.  So what is the point of that whole paragraph? That I wore my Merrell shoes during that crazy walk, and they were still comfortable to the very end.  So to anyone who plans on doing any type of long distance walking, you definitely need to check these shoes out.  Oh and you may ask how they are if you run in them?  All I can say is that when I sprinted 1/2 miles in the Frankfurt airport to catch my flight to Rome that they performed great!  Sidenote:  I did catch my flight!  

A pic of our awesome Merrell shoes taken
at
LAX airport prior to taking off!