Walk a Mile In My Shoes

You would be AMAZED at the small things that become unknowing road blocks on the road to your fitness goals... at least I was! Years ago I broke my ankle. I didn't just break it, I managed to shatter it to shards. It was in so many tiny pieces that the orthopedic surgeon said there weren't pieces big enough to even attempt to screw me back together. I STILL have visions of me, an egg and a wall. Well, that MAJOR road block was overcome with physical therapy and sheer will to overcome. But as of late I have been experiencing pain, other symptoms I didn't even realize existed and a pretty big decrease in motivation to workout that began quite some time ago. It's always the little things!

I bought a new pair of shoes yesterday. The birds now sing, the sky is blue and the world is right again with this one simple change. My new shoes made me feel like a million bucks INSTANTLY! As a matter of fact, THE TRIP to the shoe store.... The New Balance shoe store to be exact, changed everything. The wonderful salesman at the store was an EXPERT. Apparently he watched me walk into the store and made an assessment in that brief 30 second span of time. My first sentence was that I am working out quite a bit and need a new pair of shoes. He then proceeded to tell me that I walk with a slight roll outward on the right side. I told him that I had broken my ankle years back and did, in fact, have a slight roll when I walked due to restricted movement. Man, he was GOOD! He then took me over to the women's shoe rack and pointed to 3 pairs of sneakers and said that those were the only three he would recommend due to the stabilizers built into the shoe. The stabilizers would help to correct some of that rolling as well as help me strengthen the ankle simply because of them. Well, I was sold! He measured my feet and got me the new pair of shoes... he even put them on me! So not only was this guy an expert, but he was BRAVE as well! hahahahaha!

I HAD RELIEF INSTANTLY!!! My ankle stopped hurting, my walk was better and there was a relief of pressure that I didn't even know I had in BOTH of my feet. Not only was I overdue for a new pair of shoes, but apparently I was overdue for the RIGHT shoes. To my astonishment, I was in and out of The New Balance store in about 15 minutes and this morning I worked out with a vigor that I haven't had in months. Who knew that my lack of motivation had anything to do with shoes???? Who knew that a shoe expert was going to make the difference????

If you don't think that a great pair of shoes can change your life, go have a talk with Cinderella! <--- I love that quote.