How do you want to show up?
I was graphic recording a tradeshow and I was flabbergasted that a woman working the booth across the aisle wore towering heels all day long. I was wearing my comfort sport runners with orthotics and was still had super sore feed at the end of the day.
Then a funning thing happened, at the end of the day the woman pulled out a pair of fuzzy purple bunny slippers. Now that looked comfortable.
I was amused by her footwear but thought this also seems to be a metaphor for how people show up.
They show up wearing the towering stilettos because that is “professional”—meanwhile they think that is what is expected. And buried inside is the longing for fluffy purple bunny slippers.
You don’t to choose one or the other: painfully professional or glittery-unicorn-smiley-face-dotting-your-i. There’s a professional, personable in-between. Think maybe purple ballet flats or furry leopard slingbacks.