Why I am no longer accepting discomfort
Or what I learned from my new shoes
Like many people I think I changed a lot during the Covid pandemic. Our reactions to external events shaped us in ways that we still haven’t really fully unpacked and our lives are firmly divided into the before times, and afterwards.
One of the subtle things that changed for me is that I stopped wearing shoes with heels. Before Covid when I was working in an office these were pretty much a non negotiable part of my wardrobe. I had upgraded over the years to my beloved Fly London brand so that most of my shoes were comfortable to wear, but they all had heels.
After months of working at home and then hybrid working it dawned on me that I didn’t particularly enjoy wearing heels anymore, in fact I was much comfier without them, and so my wardrobe adapted.
Fast forward a few years and in an effort to replace some worn out summer sneakers I took a chance on a Vinted purchase of a new-to-me brand. They were unworn, still with tags and a snip at £20 compared to their retail price.
I gleefully unwrapped them and wore them with pride for a short country walk with my husband. Reader - I was in tatters by the end of the walk. The shoes proved to be monumentally uncomfortable and I had committed a rookie error in wearing them for a walk straightaway without wearing them around the house a little first.
It’s been many years since I had blisters from wearing uncomfortable shoes but they are no less disagreeable now than they were then. The difference has been in my tolerance for it. Previous me, past me would have soldiered on with blister pads and plasters, determined to ‘break them in’ and not waste my £20.
Current me has realised that I have absolutely no tolerance anymore for discomfort. Particularly the kind of discomfort that I can avoid.
I can’t do much about the kind of discomfort that I find at a networking social event or a group meeting - us introverts have to just cope with that as best we can.
But I can sure as hell not wear uncomfortable shoes if I don’t have to.
,I limped around for a week, as the blisters made the wearing of all my shoes uncomfortable. But rather than lamenting about my wasted money or feeling guilty that I had chosen poorly I decided to move on and donate those shoes to the local charity shop. Hopefully they will find their way to someone who will suit them better.
The search for comfy summer shoes continues…
This is No. 7 in a series of Essays for the 24 Essays Club hosted by Claire Venus
. Other posts in this series include:
Louise decades ago I too gave up heels!! 30 some odd years later I’ve given up my Beloved Birkenstock’s and open helped vlogs!!! Now I only wear Hike Footwear likely only found in the US, they have a wide rounded toe box which allows for complete toe comfort and they possess this magic ability to reduce my sense of being off balance and allow me to feel everything under foot with no discomfort or pain!!! It’s like being a barefooted kid again with none of the hazards!!
I have been mostly lucky with happy feet as I go through the years. They have given me rather excellent service when I consider how little attention I give them. I tend to wear slippers in the house to avoid tracking dirt in. This said, I had an unusual thing happen last spring that taught me how our feet and our backs are connected. For some years I had been ignoring a lower back ache whenever I worked at the kitchen sink. Taking care of a lot of veggies or cleaning up after a big bout of baking was no fun because of the pain in my back. Then one day I was working in the garden in my funky cheap but waterproof outdoor clogs and decided to take some planters inside for a good scrubbing. My clogs were relatively clean so I left them on while I was in the house and that was my bit of very good luck! I discovered that I had no back-ache when wearing the clogs at the sink!!! Since that day I always wear a comfy pair of clogs in the house and have vanished that lower back ache. Hope this helps someone suffering similar back aches.