Well, that title is misleading. There is no way I could walk a mile in these shoes. In fact, I only wear them for a few hours each year. These are my Vegas shoes.
Back home, I never wear these shoes. For one thing, there’s no place to wear them here. They don’t fit into my life in Suburbia, USA. For another thing, I’m afraid I’m going to break something when I wear them. If not an actual body part, then possibly a shattered ego in the event I spill onto my face. It’s not a totally unfounded fear; did you read that article about how dangerous it is just to take your daily shower? And remember that episode of Sex and the City when Carrie becomes “runway roadkill?” How these ladies do a “Heel Hop” workout in stilettos I will never understand.
But it is fun to shed my suburban persona for a few hours and teeter around the casino wearing a little glamor.
When I retired five years ago, I was really excited to shed my CPA persona and get a whole new identity. Losing your work identity is a struggle that some retirees have a hard time with. I embraced it whole-heartedly. I couldn’t wait to shed the buttoned-down accountant image and exchange it for a new one, something creative, fashionable, and hip. I thought once I retired and started blogging I would get a whole new identity.
Well as it turns out, I may enjoy a new creative outlet in retirement, but I’m not really any more fashionable or hip. In fact, I still enjoy creating spreadsheets for myself, managing my investments, and engaging in other accountant-like behavior. While I may have shed my career identity, it’s not like retirement gave me a personality transplant. I’m still the same person I was before I retired.
The truth is, I’m a sensible-shoe girl. That’s what fills the majority of my closet. So those Vegas shoes only transform my identity for a couple nights each year. Just like retirement, it may not have given me a whole new identity, but it has ever so slightly improved the one I enjoy now.
Related Posts:
Reflections on My First Year of Retirement (Part 2: Loss of Identity)
Discovering Who I Am Without Work
It’s Not Losing an Identity, It’s Gaining a Chance to Create a New One!
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If you really want a new identity? I know a man in Montreal who'll do it for five grand:) Your reading my mind. I just said to my wife the same exact thing. In my case I want to wear nice clothes not suits maybe smart casual. I'm doing my snow work now and I too have been retired five years and I'm tired of work boots and Carhartt's. I want to be pretty:)))) But your right in some ways shaking the identity is a challenge. Sorry bout the 9ers.
Posted by: fred doe | February 04, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Cute shoes! Sometimes I think I go on cruises just for the opportunity to wear my sparklies.
Any thoughts on the "bond bubble" and how that's changing your allocation, if at all?
Posted by: Jacq | February 06, 2013 at 05:15 PM
fred: Thanks for the 49er condolences.
Jacq: Funny you should ask, I was just working on an allocation post today. Stay tuned.
Posted by: Retired Syd | February 06, 2013 at 05:47 PM