Ryan (owner, writer and creator of My Lime Boots) In your ‘about ‘section you say you are discovering the ‘you, you lost sight of a while ago’. Please explain?
I have been through many things in my life, I came out of a long-term relationship (I am gay) and realized I had lost sight of myself. I am so stubborn I tried to make it work, I was so in love. In that process, I lost my identity. I remember waking up for work in the morning and putting on whatever was top of the pile. I looked in the mirror and thought “Is this really what I had put on”. You get to the point where you are just trying to cope with life, you are just rushing through the day so you can get home and go to sleep. It has been a process of finding myself. My blog is documenting me and my journey, I am finding the who and what I am. That is where the lime boots come from. Going and buying a pair of lime boots that I have wanted for a long time was a symbol of this process. We get tangled up in other things around us which divert us from the process of figuring ourselves out. When I was broken down to base level I had to rebuild everything I thought I knew about myself. People say I have reinvented myself. I haven’t reinvented, I am only just really understanding who I am.
This is a process everyone can understand in some way. You define your ‘Lime Boots approach to life’, as throwing caution to the wind, engaging in new experiences and constantly challenging your boundaries. You say you have experienced tremendous personal growth while practicing this theory. Let’s talk about the exact moment you realized something had to change in your life?
It was really just a taking back for myself. That is what the site is about. I had seen the boots for sometime they are actually gardening boots, but I dont mind, I wear them everywhere. Something inside of me resonated. I am in touch with how I want to express myself. The boots are a way for me to express myself. The first place I wore them was to a church meeting with about fifty people where I had to facilitate. I heard some of the people talking, one guy said to the other guy “Don’t judge someone until you have walked in their boots”. That was funny.
In what direction are you going with the fashion side of your website?
When I started the blog, I didn’t want to be another blog about fashion, there are lots of people who blog about men’s fashion, photography and grooming. My idea is to inject my personality into what I am doing. One of the things I am doing is working with an editor from a men’s fashion magazine. Together we are getting involved with three South African men’s fashion designers. We are looking at taking avant garde fashion and introducing it into men’s wear. We will be pushing boundaries, I just want to explore and learn new things. I want other people to come along that journey with me.
Your 9-5 is accounting, you are a long way from home here. Have you always wanted to write?
No, no. I did accounting because it was something I was good at in school. I see the art in accounting, the art in maths. The art in the structure, I have enjoyed it but it felt there is more for me. People have been saying over the years that I should write. I have have always had the desire to write and I enjoy people. I enjoy getting to know people and putting down into words my experience of people and our interactions.
