Two Weeks of Goodness: Day Ten

I have been in the market for a nice winter coat for years. A couple years ago, I bought this unsightly blue coat as a stopgap while I searched for The Jacket. I bought it knowing it was hideous, but warm.

A month ago, I decided to stop screwing around and buy a decent jacket. I hunted for a bit and came up with something plausible. I was about to buy it when a special friend stepped in and suggested a better one.

The new jacket is absolutely killing it. It gets favorable comments from everyone I know and many people I don't know. It reminds me of the Gogol story "The Overcoat" that we read in tenth grade English class. I do sort of feel like a different person wearing it, and it's really gotten me thinking. If there was this one aspect of my life that could have been improved that much, there must be others. There are probably a hundred different things I could be doing better; I'm just not aware of most of them.

Self-improvement walks a fine line. Obsessively trying to transform everything about you is a pretentious, circular, and ultimately fruitless quest. For a guy like me, people will quickly recognize those pretenses and disdain overzealous efforts. It's ridiculous to adjust your actual personality. The best way to make changes is to do so organically whenever possible. These are my theories. Consistently implementing them has always been a challenge, even when I recognize my shortcomings.

I dropped the blue jacket off at Coats for Colorado (now at First Presbyterian Church at Walnut & 15th) last night, in large part so I'd have an excuse to wear the new jacket even more.