Goodbye slip-on heeled shoes!

We all have to learn to keep living our lives as balanced as we can.  Women and Moms in particular can get caught up in multi-tasking and a juggling act that takes over our lives at our expense.  While we may be aware of needing to learn to slow down to maintain balance in our lives in general, we may not think of being balanced in a literal sense.  I was not thinking about it when I lost balance on a step, fell, and fractured a hand, requiring surgery.

Now I am recovering and going through challenging physical therapy.  The experience has made me more aware of safety.  I would not be in this situation if I had taken off my slip-on heels before going down the steep steps to the basement or chosen different shoes.  Since my accident, I’ve been drawn to observing the shoes women are wearing.  I imagine that as the weather gets warmer, more heels will be worn.

I’ve debated what to do with the shoes I fell in.  I thought I might keep them and just be more careful – they were my favorite pair, a treat from Nordstrom.  I looked them over and noticed they were somewhat worn and realized I’d never really looked at how worn my dress shoes are getting.  I bet this is common for women – we normally have many pairs that we occasionally wear and don’t think we are wearing them out.  We certainly wouldn’t think of a potential safety concern from a worn heel.  Mine ended up with some ridges that got caught on Berber carpeted stairs.

I decided to donate my shoes and am now giving more thought to the shoes I plan to wear in the future.  I’ve heard of vague concerns regarding heels being damaging and decided to do some research.  I came across a Washington Post Article with diagrams showing the effect of heels on the body.  Not surprisingly, there is nothing positive.  For myself, I am planning on steering away from heels.  Perhaps what I will gain from literally losing my balance and getting injured is healthier feet and legs for the long-term.