Just a couple days ago, one of the most vital decisions that has been made in my life took shape. The decision was life changing and made a huge difference to me. It was made after much meticulous inner debate and after choosing it, there was no returning to the life I used to have. This decision, of course, was buying a new pair of shoes. This may sound like a joke rooted in gross hyperbole, but upon deeper thought, this choice reflected thoughts in my head that have been spinning around for a while now. It marked where I've been and who I was. I have decided to meander about this in an article I have entitled in what sounds like the dullest and most sententious Scrubs episodes ever: My New Shoes.

I went up to Columbia to have lunch at the mall with one of my best friends before I went to the gym. He was buying a throng of different clothes for a wedding he was part of and I had no real intention to buy anything. However, his aspersions that he cast towards the pitiful state of my shoes caused me to give in and get new ones. After a couple of hours searching store to store, I finally found a pair at Shoe Carnival. As I looked at the box that contained the new pair of shoes glaring at me on the passenger seat like a traveler ready for a new adventure in a foreign country, I realized just what these shoes meant to me and where I've been before I bought them. I pondered the sheer amount of things that have happened to me while I owned this last pair of beaten and battered shoes. These "war torn" tennis shoes have been through the life I have lived for the past two years. Hang on in this next part because I'm about to get really introspective and stuff.

I bought these shoes for 100 dollars despite the price tag on the box clearly stating they were 70 dollars. Despite this large price difference, I chose to bite the barbed wire bullet and buy them with no complaints. Therein lies the extent of my social anxiety. I was too afraid to stand up for myself even if I had to just bluntly give up 30 dollars of my hard earned money. These were the shoes I wore when I started college. I nervously loaded my room while these grey plastic boats firmly hugged my feet. These were the shoes attached to me during my first college course. While wearing these, I met the girl that would eventually become the girl that, for a while, I loved. The first social events that I attended on campus were aided by these plastic platforms on which I walked. These shoes got me through my whole first year and through a whole relationship, where my life eventually changed again. Times change and so do people and by the beginning of the next school year, these shoes were on me when I was thrown alone out in the open. I spent so much time investing in one person that I neglected to make other friendships. This is when I knew that I had to make new friends and I had to do it soon. After much hard work, I made many fantastic new friends. All of these people have affected me in ways I could never have imagined. These include my friend Chris, who taught me the power of positivity, Ben, who taught me to keep in shape as well as how to have self confidence, Mary, who taught me to pursue talking to people, Shelby, who taught me to view some friends as if they are family, Sarah, who taught me to be more outgoing, and Ray, who was the first person to reach out to me and try to get me out of my shell. I could go on with important people like Morgan, Lyz, Tristan, David, Josh, and more but that would be much too long for this article. All of these people I have met while wearing this pair of shoes. Now, as I make the decision to move away to a new state, I wear this same pair of shoes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that these shoes symbolize my entire college career thus far. It was so hard to replace them because they seemed to indicate it was time to move on. Yes, it would have been comfortable to keep the same pair and not spend the money, but I'll eventually have to get a new pair. Every bit of wear and tear in these shoes has marked the stressful paradise that has been college. Changing shoes at this point signifies starting a new leaf. The old pair had exposed plastic on the back of one heel that continuously scratched against my foot to the point where a welt formed on the back of my ankle. I can't ignore the way I feel just for an emotional level of comfort and safety. As Shannon L. Adler writes, "The only real battle in life is between hanging on and letting go". It came to me that no matter how much you love something, if you don't change it or take care of it, you'll start to lose track of why you really cared about it in the first place. I can't go through life with torn up shoes and it wasn't until I bought a new pair that I realized the same about my life.

I'm not used to writing long winded emotional things, but I'm just writing about how I feel right now. These shoes in which I ran a 10k, got podium placement in a school talent show, worked tirelessly in the gym, pursued a stressful relationship and then tried unsuccessfully to pursue another one, met the best friends I may ever have in my life, and made life defining decisions are now being replaced with new shoes. Lets just hope these new shoes will have a story of their own to tell me by the time I replace them, whether it be undesirable or compelling.

I couldn't really think of any pictures or anything to add to this article but thank you for taking the time to read it. Just for a change of mood, here's a picture of my official personal mascot, Tobias Funke from Arrested Development. Enjoy.