feetnote

(strange how my posts recently seem to have a tail (or in this case a pair of feet) that slowly raises to the surface after a day or two…)

Speaking of unconscious money patterns, here is another one i discovered (with data to back it up):

The budgetary body-mind rift.

aka: although I unhesitatingly spend thousands a year on my mind/spirit, my body has to make do with ten bucks or so.

Do you think this may be a fossilised remnant from my Catholic upbringing? The glorious mind, endlessly reaching up to its Creator, the lowly body, trying to dig itself into a premature grave through sin and depravation, and therefore better ignored or done away with altogether...

Sounds extreme? Let’s look at some figures.

As you may remember from my last post, last year i spent in excess of €5000 on personal self-development (none of which had much to do with creature comforts), plus another €200 or so on books and literature. So much for my mind.

What about my body? Total clothing and grooming expenses for 2016: €82 (unless you count the dentist).

hmm.

As it happens, for some time now, my feet have been dreaming of shoes. And not just any shoes, but new shoes, and not just any new shoes, but these beauties…

*i know, i know... taste is a matter of... well, taste, i guess... 'But mum....you will look like a gorilla!', said my eldest in an exasperated tone 

i don't care. i want them anyway. because i spend most summers walking around barefoot, and my feet love it, because with every passing year these same said feet are more and more reluctant at the end of summer to re-enter their leather prison, because happy feet make a happy woman, because i tried them on in the store around the corner from my house and never ever ever wanted to take them off again, because… damn it, because i want them.

The price tag: €130 (on sale).

i swear to you, if these were not shoes, but an online course on how to create a fantastic website for my new business while high on a combination of ayahuasca and transcendental meditation, or an illustrated leather hand-bound medieval treatise on the relation between human gut flora and the secret life of gorillas and flowers, I wouldn’t even blink. Not. Even. Blink.

But these are shoes. 

So it’s been four months.

Four months in which i sold former shoes of mine to ‘save’ money for these, ploughed the internet relentlessly for a better deal, explored second-hand alternatives, hesitated, hesitated some more, decided it was much too expensive ‘for our family’, poured over extensive and detailed studies of exactly how long these shoes are supposed to last before they have to be replaced...

(by all accounts, the answer to the latter question is ‘one year or so’) 

(WHAT?!!!?????!!!!!??? ONLY ONE YEAR!!! WHAT A RIP-OFF!!! You mean I’ll have to buy a new pair EVERY YEAR??!!!! Do you realise that means €100-150 A YEAR? For shoes??? What madness is this? I have been managing just fine on my €15 shoe budget!) 

(plus, that online course i recently took on how to create a fantastic website while high on gut flora and gorilla flowers offered LIFE-LONG access to all materials...!).

Four months, people, and still no shoes…

This makes me a bit sad… Because feet are a bit like a dog, aren't they? Unconditionally faithful, loving, forgiving, joyful. And always up for long walks... no matter the weather. 

i always say i love my feet. But if ‘love’ was a verb, where would this loving of mine be showing? 

…

Maybe I’ll be brave, and loving. Maybe i'll redirect some of my as-yet-unspent personal development budget for this year to get my feet a lovely shell for all those long free hours in the forest.

…