It is no requirement but the occasional confirmation of one’s heading in life is just really nice, warm and fuzzy. Unintentional compliments are amongst my favourite of confirmations. Just the other day, my colleague gave me one, and it was the nicest I have ever received.
That colleague never met Steel Caps, he was introduced to Ugg Boots just a couple of months ago. Standing outside the open plan office pod in which 2 other colleagues and myself reside, he had started to banter with one of them “Do you always have to bring your black sarcasm into the area? Look at B, he at least tries to look happy, and S, well, S is just genuinely happy. […]”
I recall neither the beginning nor the continuation of that conversation, but that sentence made me smile. Broadly. Wildly. How lovely, that my joyfulness sits around me, plain for all to see.
My colleague didn’t know, but throughout the years living in steel cap boots, I was the one that carried a cloud of black sarcasm, a bucket full of grumpiness and a backpack filled with abrasiveness everywhere she went. It was heavy, and to be sure, I didn’t make much human connection carrying that around, but that was kind of by design, wasn’t it.
Hearing someone refer to me as genuinely happy reminded me of how far I have come. How far removed I am from the woman I was and how much joy is in my life as the result of the hard work I have put into myself.
That is worthy of celebrating more often. So here is to all the lovely humans that have supported me on that journey and to myself for putting in the work – I love you all ❤
Steel Caps to Uggs 