For the many of us working from home, it’s probably been a fair while since we’ve had to squeeze our feet into a pair of high heels!
After a year (a year!!) of slopping around in either slippers, socks or barefoot, nice footwear has become a symbol of a lost time, and a former life, in a way!
Granted, the retirement of those impractical, often uncomfortable heels is not completely unwelcome! After all, it’s spared us a whole world of pain in the blister department!
That said, the pre-pandemic footwear gathering dust in the cupboard, can trigger a certain sadness. These shoes, for all their annoyances, are in a way an extension of our former selves, representing much more than fashion and office dress codes.
Much like a favourite lipstick, perfume or dress, a pair of shoes has a power behind its remit, to change the way we think, feel and function.
If you find, therefore, that slipping on a pair of your old heels under your desk brings back even an ounce of what the slipper era has taken away.... then it might be a small step worth embracing, in the bigger picture of self-preservation at least!
This ‘ruby slipper’ effect is what some might put down to the more scientific term ‘enclothed cognition.’ It relates to the influence which clothing has upon a person’s mental process, specifically attention and confidence.
In the interests of giving anything a go, to get through the next ‘however long’ with some form of ‘personal continuity’, the mustard heels are officially being exhumed... if only for ten minutes, sitting down! #wherearemyslippers