What Scares Me Most About CDing; or Irrational Thinking, the Pink Fog, and Pandora's Box

Ana Cristina Garcia is writing a series of posts on Facebook (and I believe Flickr) discussing her theories on CDing. It's a very interesting read - Cristy offers lots of insight and stories from her own experiences and has clearly put a lot of thought into her points -  and I agree with a lot of what Cristy has to say. I won't link to her posts as I'm sure that most of the readers know who she is (if you follow the online CDing community) as she's been an Internet fixture for some time now. Anyway, her latest post discusses what she calls the "Pink Fog" in which the euphoria of being dressed is so great it clouds your judgement, causing dressing to take over your life and leading to neglecting/abandoning the rest of your life (the real world). As someone who is married with kids and a career, this really hit home for me and spoke to some of my greatest fears, which are magnified as I step a toe into the CDing world - with first a makeover/photo session and soon a first venture out while dressed. Given that, I wanted to share my thoughts on the nature of CDing and the "Pink Fog" from my response to Cristy's post. I would of course love to hear other's thoughts on this subject as it should be very relevant to all of us.

This is my favorite note you've written so far, Cristy, and the most important one in my opinion. Very insightful as well - lots to think about here. Thank you for sharing.

I often here people refer to CDing as a hobby. I've never agreed. A hobby is different. Someone who plays golf, for instance, does it mainly because they enjoy it and find it relaxing. So in that sense it's like CDing. But people quit golfing all the time and move on to different things. In other words, they aren't compelled to play golf. Same for other hobbies. CDing is different because we feel compelled to do it. It's primal. And that makes the it different from hobbies - and much more dangerous because it's more likely to become addicting. 

I think that like you say, the key is moderation. I'd argue that's easier when you have the ability to dress periodically. And, as we get older, that generally means that you are out in the open to the people in your life who are directly affected by CDing, and they at least tolerate it to the extent that you are given the ability to "feed the beast" once in a while. If you don't have that, you are more likely to go overboard and make rash decisions about CDing (the pink fog you refer to) I think because resentment builds against you constraints (generally family). And that resentment can blind you to all the good in the rest of your life. I compare it to a teenager who was able to occasionally have a beer or glass of wine with his parents while growing up to someone who doesn't have a drink until they are off at college. The latter is much more vulnerable and likely to make rash decisions in my opinion because of that forced restraint that's been there his entire life.

And that's what scares me. I'm not out to my wife - or anyone else for that matter. Last year, I had a makeover/photo shoot - the first time anyone had seen me dressed. This year, I'm taking a "weekend away" and going to a ball and a few other places dressed. And while it's something I want to do - I need to do - it scares the hell out of me. Not just because of the typical reasons you'd expect for a first time being out in public dressed. But because I'm scared I'll open a Pandora's box. I think I have the life experience and appreciation of what I have - wife, kids, career - to handle it. But temptation is powerful, as you seem to recognize. So thank you for your insight into this. It came at an important time for me and is very useful.