The Red Boot Story…

I’ve lived my life with a desire to fit in so that people would like me. This has proven to be destructive to me time and again. As a child, I wanted to be the popular girl that everyone wanted to be around.

A perfect example of this is best illustrated through what I call the Red Boots Story. I grew up in cold, snowy Iowa. When I was in grade school, I had these red, rubber snow boots that I adored. Well, I adored them until I wore them to school and saw the cool girls wearing white snow boots! Their boots looked like the white go-go boots that were so fashionable in the late 1960s, and like Goldie Hawn might have worn on an episode of Laugh-In. The girls who were wearing them looked so grown up while my cute little red rubber boots made me look like a baby. I wanted to trash those red boots so I could fit in.

I went home from school and begged my mother for new boots. Of course, she refused. So, I hatched a plan to “lose” one of my boots, so she’d be forced to buy new ones for me. Of course, the plan backfired, and I ended up having to wear my older brother’s outgrown black buckle galoshes – complete with plastic bread wrappers underneath to help them slide over my shoes. I was devastated. At least the little red boots were comfortable and felt like me.

As I got older, the cost of not being true to myself became greater and greater. After living a lifetime of trying to fit in, and be like everyone else, I’ve finally learned to love and appreciate myself (and my red rubber boots!) for who I am and to value my own unique talents and strengths.

My mission is to help others learn to value and appreciate who they are, and to embrace all the beauty and talent they possess. In this way, I believe I can make the world a little bit better.

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