Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Best Foot Forward

Another nod to a fellow blogger.

I had to half laugh when I fed the title of Rosalind Joffe’s post, “You Can Live With Chronic Illness And Still Love Those Shoes”.

I’ve been thinking about shoes a lot lately. As of late, I have three types of shoes that I wear:

- Winter boots
(I live in Michigan, so these end up being warn about four months out of the year!)
- Gym/tennis shoes
- Flip flops
(I am not sure how great these are, but they feel pretty good to me)

Yes, these three types have become my shoe repertoire. Not very glamorous if you ask me.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not always so steady on my feet. Some of that is illness related, some of it is just the fact that I’m a total klutz.

But you’re probably wondering… Does the girl actually own more than three pairs of shoes? Of course I do. And I love them. And I want to buy more. But what used to be a concern for comfort is a lot more important now.

Shoes that are uncomfortable are just no good. A bad pair of shoes can throw an already off-kilter body severely out of balance.

I haven’t bought a new pair of shoes since the summer (last summer). Now all of you girly girls out there don’t go gasping at my fashion faux pas.

I think that buying clothes and shoes are related a lot to self-esteem. And as I talked about last week in my post, “Illness And Self-Esteem,” chronic illness and be a pretty big buzz kill in the self-esteem department.

I think that chronic illness makes you more realistic about a lot of things, shoes included. Maybe there are some of you out there who think, forget comfort, and are going to wear those stilettos forever. But for me, the heels only come out when absolutely necessary.

And maybe in some ways that’s better. The nice shoes only come out for special occasions. They’ll last longer that way. And so will my body, feet included.

5 comments:

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  2. My favorite shoes are anything you can slip on without having to actually tie them or fasten them. My hands are my worst area for being clumsy. I frequently drop things for no reason other than my joints saying to each other "hey, watch this!"
    My teenage daughter has enough shoes for both of us. She has three shoe racks full and even more on the floor of her closet. And they keep coming in. Thank goodness she has a job now! I will let her be the fashion guru in our house. Now, where are my sweats? lol

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  3. See, that's the beauty of flip flops... they go with everything. I can wear my nicer ones to work without feeling bad and I can wear them with sweat pants, too!

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  4. Can I just say, I am so happy that flats/ballet flats are "trendy" right now. I LOVE these shoes. They're cute, they're (often) cheap, and they can be dressy without being heels. And since they're "in", they're easy to find. Don't get me wrong, I love heels, but I can't wear them any more. I have to conserve my energy, and wearing heels just takes up too much energy.

    Glad I'm not the only one thinking about this!

    Be well,
    MJ

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  5. Haha! Great title, because I bought a pair of shoes that had not been in style since I was 15. but now are back in style, and they are sitting on my dresser as a reminder of me wanting to improve my life...but I can't wear them. lol.

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