The Importance of Shoes - An Explanation

You know when you’re young and invincible? Perhaps you are at that stage now, or perhaps you remember when you were, or perhaps you think you still are.

I’m at the ‘think you still are stage’. That is until I get home and sit down. I remember when I was at the ‘I know I am invincible’ stage.  This was from about the ager of 17 to 30. Then my knees started to give in, mainly after waking up and trying to walk to the kitchen for breakfast. Sharp, stabbing pains in my left inside knee. I’ve been working hospitality since I was 17 in bars and restaurants, continuously on my feet, often working double shifts just to make extra money, or because I could. Remember I was young and invincible. So being on my feet all day was just the way things were.

It was not until I was about 29 that I found out I have very, very flat feet. This was one of the reasons why I had such bad pains, not enough support in my shoes. I was also wearing pretty bad shoes.

I now wear inserts inside my shoes to help correct that and to provide much needed support. I buy trainers that are designed for flat feet people. Most of them are pretty bad looking, so I do lots of research to try to find ones that look half decent.

Still today I am on my feet a lot of the time. I walk 15 minutes each day to and from the tube station, sometimes doing it twice in one day if required. At the shop, especially in the early days I would be on my feet for 12 hours straight, working, working, working.

Now I see the youngsters coming in here to work, some of them wearing poor support or just plain bad shoes. I try, as a person of experience, to coach them on the importance of good shoes, but they are young, and invincible. Then eventually some of them buy good ones, ones that do provide support and provide comfort and I notice and I say ‘ hey, nice shoes’. You also notice that they are happier, they feel better, quite simply they work faster. Up the stairs, down the stairs, around the shop. They walk faster to and from the tube, their life gets better overall.

Trust me on this, or don’t…..it’s amazing what a difference a shoe can make.