Laughter is Key

Having the ability to laugh about a situation you’re upset about can be rough at times, but it also helps immensely. It can help in many, many situations. Rough times, happy times, nervous times, and even maybe some scary times. Laughter is used to cope, to bond, to maybe make a situation less awkward or even to make yourself calm down from being too upset. Shoes. Shoes are not a huge deal by any means, they are simply something you put on your feet almost everyday to help you get around with more ease. Whether they are hiking boots, basketball sneakers, soccer cleats, tap shoes, flip flops for a summer day, or maybe just a pair of your favorite Nikes, shoes are just shoes. The problem here is every one has their favorite pair, including myself. When you ruin your favorite pair it is quite upsetting and can definitely get you down. I am the type of person to buy a beautiful pair of shoes and barely wear them afraid I may get them dirty or that they will loose that fresh-out-the-box look to them. The tragedy of getting my favorite pair of shoes ruined came to me this one day. Having a positive outlook on a situation like this can result in an extremely better outcome than the one you were previously in.

Things you wear are hard to keep clean, especially when they are touching the ground 24/7, exposed to all the elements. Everything you are protecting you feet from, your shoes are touching for you. If you can keep your shoes clean you’re doing pretty well…if you can keep your all white shoes clean you’re doing very well. You see I was the person who kept their pearly whites squeaky clean, and I am not talking about teeth. My white pair of Nikes were my favorite pair I ever had, and they lasted me all throughout high school, white as ever, until the winter of senior year.

I managed to keep these bad boys all white, not a speck on them for over three years. I’ve never been more cautious about something than I was when I wore these beautiful albino babies; walking away from a group or not walking in front of people so they couldn’t accidentally step on them, or having people pick me up if I knew I was doing to step on something that could possibly get my shoes dirty…quite dramatic, I know.

Then it happened. I made the stupid decision to wear them during a snow storm…fine right? They’re white anyway? Wrong. There’s always that soul-crushing, shoe-ruined brown dirty slush under pretty white snow. Took one step and it was over for that white mesh. I stepped on a seemingly innocent blob of cloud-white snow, then quickly noticed that underneath this top layer of bountifulness laid a nasty, dirty layer of brown slush that quickly put an end to my shoe game. I knew the second I looked at my now brown shoes there was no coming back from that, so in result I just continued to walk through the slush, with a somewhat relieved feeling that I no longer have to look every where I step while wearing these. 

Unable to get the stains out of the pearly Nike’s, I chose to laugh at the situation and create a better outcome than I had in front of me at the moment. I got the idea to transform the footwear from now brown and white shoes to a originally deigned shoe of my own. Knowing my white nikes would never be the same, it was time for change. The stress of not having to keep them clean anymore was enough to get me to do this. I picked up some tie dye at a local craft shop and continued to transform them into a black and blue, dirt free masterpiece that I no longer have to watch where I step every second they’re on my feet. The shoes actually came out quite decent and I was surprised I did not think of this idea long before since the white shoes were a perfect canvas for tie dying.

Having something negative affect something you care about can be rough. Quite dramatic, but my all white Nike’s were my experience with this situation. I chose to laugh and make positive impacts instead of getting down for quite some time. Doing this helped my situation and changed my attitude and eased my pain figuratively.