Most of us have this list of things in life we swore we would never do. They may include things like skydiving, shaving our head or dating Barry Teedlebomb. Although I have yet to skydive and don’t even know a Barry Teedlebomb, I did have a bad bout involving a razor blade and the left side of my scalp back in high school (when I unsuccessfully tried to shave a row of stripes.)

I also had a list of other self-imposed taboos. I swore I would never eat raw meat, go to college (who needs it!) or engage in horrendous things like wearing pink sneakers. Needless to say, I like my roast beef bloody, not only did I attend school long enough for a bachelor’s but liked it enough to continue for a master’s, and today I fulfilled that third taboo.

I got pink sneakers. Light pink. Slip ons. With cushy white soles. Yes, I got a "girly" pair of shoes. Mind you, technically I did not WEAR them yet -- unless you count trying them on in the store, pacing around enough in my indecision to already get them dirty.

As I trod the carpet surrounding the Clearance Shoe rack, my head was crammed with questions. Would I wear these or not? Would I wake up tomorrow not knowing where they came from? What on earth -- or at least in my closet -- would they match? Why am I even looking at pink sneakers, much less trying them on?!

That’s when I said hell with it. Why not (besides, the sales lady said a little soap and water would spiffy the dirt right out).

As I unpack from them their Parade of Shoes nesting box, I have to wonder what got into me. I have always prided myself as one of the least pink-sneaker friendly people you may ever find. In fact, for years and years I have hated the color pink, repulsed, in fact, by that whole fuchsia/red color family.

Perhaps it’s a mid-life crises taking place well before what I hope is midlife. Maybe I’m "softening." Could be I’m losing my mind. Or maybe I am waking up, growing...maturing. Could it be? Am I really throwing out old beliefs just because I am used to them even if they know longer work?

Is this what they call an epiphany?

If this kind of thinking works for pink sneakers, imagine what it could for other aspects of our life! It’s amazing the things you may end up enjoying if you simply open your mind. What’s also astounding is the reasons behind some of the old beliefs that continue to lurk in your psyche for no apparent reason. For hours of amusement, try analyzing one of them.

For instance, after wracking my brain to a pulp, I discovered my archaic negative thoughts swirling around pink has its origins my childhood. Pink was the color of my first bedroom, and I remember being "grounded" occasionally, stuck in that room. There I would sit on the pink checkered bedspread -- staring at the matted pink carpet, the pink bedside lamp, the aqua and pink papered walls.

Another thing to keep in mind (as if your head is not already cluttered enough with all this new-fangled THINKING going on) is that even though you used to hate something doesn’t mean you still do. I should have seen the pink thing coming ten kilometers away. After all, my hair has been #55 Mahogany for some months now and I recently purchased a stuffed Clifford the Big Red Dog. Change can be a healthy, natural state of being alive.

One of my favorite quotes sums it up acridly: "The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth." This citation is so powerful, it even made a dear friend of mine tell me to "Shut the hell up." She was stuck in a dead-end job and was uncomfortable looking at the truth. After all, if you want to get out of that rut, you really have to work for it. And we don’t necessarily like that. Change usually means you have to DO something, even if it’s only in the mental state. But the toil ends up more than worth it.