Choose the Sparkly Nail Polish

This week I went for a long overdue pedicure with a friend.  She has found a local(ish) Aveda beauty school that offers services for drastically reduced fees so the students can gain experience.  For years I had gone to a beauty school to get my hair cut before we moved to Michigan, so I was open to trying it out and since it’s an Aveda school, I knew it would be very professional and swankier than I was used to.

I was a little horrified to have the student working on my feet since it has been since the fall that I last had a professional pedicure.  I’ve painted my nails since…but they were pretty bad.

As she prepared for my pedicure, I was directed to pick a nail color.  Pink is my go-to (surprised? 😉 ) and I kept being drawn to a specific pink color, so I chose it.  It was pretty, would go with everything and was pretty bland.  I did really like it. But out of the corner of my eye I saw a sparkly turquoise color that was fabulous and so not me.

My girlfriend had a lot of difficulty choosing her color.  She said she wanted a purple shade, brought 5 over to her chair, and still couldn’t decide.  I had seen a pretty lavender and brought it to her for her to think about. (Yes….I am fully aware that in this moment we were treating choosing a nail color like an important life decision.  First world problems much?)

My girlfriend continued to be unsure of her color choice and mentioned how much she liked the pink color I chose.  Long story short (is it too late to say that now? 😉 ) she wanted to use the pink I had chosen.  I didn’t mind her using it, in fact, the idea of matching was fun.  But deep down that sparkly turquoise was on my mind.  I had loved it, but chose the more practical, more ‘me’, pink.

In that moment I knew I should go with my gut and choose the color that I had a draw towards.

There’s plenty of time to be practical in your choices, but your toe nail color isn’t one of them.

I love my sparkly turquoise toes.  They go with pretty much nothing in my wardrobe, and that’s ok.  Everytime I look down at them, I smile.  They’re fun, bright, cheery and a little ‘much’.  Kind of like me.

Mama…how many times do we chose the practical choice and ignore the catch in our gut to choose the fun?

I’ll bet if you’re anything like me, it’s multiple times a day.

I can easily say no to a fun idea one of my kids shares without truly considering it.

Dinner on the patio?  It might rain.

Fire in the firepit?  I’d rather sit on the comfy couch in the air conditioning.

An ice cream sandwich an hour before dinner?  You might ‘ruin your dinner’.

I have grown in saying yes to fun more often, yes to doing things that aren’t practical, just yes in general. But I still say no much more often than I say yes.  I want to change that.

As busy, often overwhelmed moms, it can be difficult to take the extra second to consider how doing something fun or out of the ordinary can energize us, make us smile or make our kid’s day.

Today what’s one way you can add in a little bit of fun?

Here’s a few ideas to get you thinking:

• Eating dinner ‘backward’ (dessert before dinner)
• a picnic lunch in the backyard with the kids
• staying up a little late playing a game together or watching a movie
• putting on jazz music while you cook dinner
• meeting up with a girlfriend for coffee
• reading for 15 minutes before bed
• putting on upbeat music as you clean up dinner
• letting your kids play with the ‘messy’ crafts.

And mama…..when given the choice, always choose the sparkly nail polish.

 

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