by Guest on Thu May 10, 2007 9:34 pm
Hmmm... Let's not continue to foster ancient misconceptions that the liberals love. Conservative does not equal republican, nor religious (you can be one without the others), and political conservatism is just intelligence and understanding history and the world around you, it has nothing to do with personal style.
Truly good friends won't be pushed away, or push you away, for something you like to do. They might be shocked, hell, maybe even creeped out by it at first, but they should be sophisticated enough to let you do your own thing. And likewise, if it really does creep them out, then give them the same respect you'd like and don't flaunt it in front of them. It's no big deal to wear enclosed shoes, or strip off polish when hanging out with your buddies if it really puts them off that bad.
As for your wife, that's another issue. If you do it "around the house", I assume she doesn't mind it too much. If you haven't done it already, definitely talk with her about it and see what her feelings are, and why, and see if you can address them (she may be worried about bi feelings burbling beneath the surface, and if that's not true, then you may be able to re-assure her of that and have her be ok with it) - unless of course she's already expressed her approval and encouragement.
And in both cases (as well as the general public - but that really only matters to single guys as they (we) have to keep our options open if we want to change our status lol), starting small is the way to go.
I was horrified at the notion of wearing sandals in public just a few years ago. And even once I got past that, I was terrified to let people who knew me for a long time see me in them because it was such a radical change. I thought for sure they would give me a hard time about it - only because it was so different from what they would expect from me. But slowly, I found that they, like everyone else, really just didn't care. I even went out in public with my nails (but only toes) painted before, a couple of times. Nobody ever said anything negative. At most I got a few "WTF?!" type facial expressions and double takes from women (lol), but I also had one very attractive woman standing behind me in line stare at me with an intrigued expression on her face, the entire time we were in line. Once she saw them, she stopped arguing with her boyfriend and just focused on me.
So basically, it's not a big deal. Your friends will get past it, and if they can't, they shouldn't ostricise you if they are really friends (and likewise you shoudln't force it upon them if it really does bother them), and your wife should be understanding of it too. It's really not a big deal.
I'm rambling... lol sorry. Basically just take it slow. Sandals first. If you have that down, then manicures with nothing special. If people know about that, or even just get used to seeing your feet exposed and looking good and know you keep after them, adding a ring, or an ankle bracelet (if you'd care to) wouldn't be a big deal or surprise, and then you could add matte finish polish, and even try gloss a time or 2, then finally bust out the french style (hell, mine sorta look frenched but they don't have any polish on them at all).
If you just hit them with everything all at once they will really be taken aback and that could cause problems. In stages, they probably wouldn't even notice, and wouldn't care even if they did (notice). Also, you'd have time to gradually acclimate to being seen in the various stages as well. That really has a lot to do with it. If you are uncomfortable, it shows, and people look for why you seem weird, and when they find something like that, they pin it on that and think of you as even more weird than they did at first. It sounds crazy, but it's true, you really have to rock it, but if you do, you can pull it off and people won't notice or care.
All things within reason of course - going all out with polish can be bad if you're single. lol But at the same time, if you're with a woman who likes it, you'll find many others with an interest in you too. lol
After the second or third time she even said that eventually she wanted me to try some colors, maybe brownish shades at first and once I was comfortable with that she wanted try more adventureous colors. So far I haven't tried any colors.
