We prefer to put a hundred plasters on blisters before we change shoes.

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Everyone knows that you shouldn’t walk too much with new shoes. I know that. But I thought these new boots were quite comfortable, so I exposed them to some kilometres right the first day.

Needless to say, it wasn’t the best idea. When I came home and put the boots off I saw that my pinky toes were rather red than pink-y. On both toes I had rubbed off blisters, so I put some sticky plasters on them. The next day I walked out the house with different shoes.

Using a plaster was a good remedy to cover the wound and protect it a bit. But the important thing was changing the shoes.

This made me think that we get plenty of emotional blisters too, throughout life. Do we cover them with plasters and pretend this is the solution? Or do we change shoes?

We are so much used to putting plasters on blisters that we forgot how the blisters occurred in the first place. If you walk with shoes that don’t quite adjust to your feet, the same part of your foot is getting injured each time you walk. This won’t really change. Your shoes may get a bit wider with time, or you get used to the pain… but the shoes will never really fit your feet. That’s just how it is. But if you believe the shoes will eventually change, you might be walking your whole life with plasters. 

Imagine you’re on a nice holiday journey. You may be completely missing the beauty of the trip when you wear shoes that hurt you. All your attention will be on the pain you experience with every step, and your mind will be focused on finding a pharmacy or places to be able to sit and put the shoes off. But perhaps you’ll just throw the shoes in a trash and buy new, more comfortable ones. With emotional blisters it’s more difficult to make such a decision.

Symbolically speaking, I think we change shoes way too rarely. We prefer plasters.

Think of your job, your partner, your friends, your flat. Is there any pain you have been experiencing for months, perhaps years, and you’ve been soothing this pain with short-term fixes that don’t work? You’re using plasters then. We all do so, in some moments and some areas of our lives.

It hurts realising that the shoe never really fit us, and that it won’t adjust to our feet never.

But it hurts more to have your feet suffer each single day.

How can you walk the steps of your life journey when each step is reminding you of the pain you’re experiencing? 

That being said, I’ll leave this article with some food for thought:

When do you realise it’s time for a new shoe? 

How many plasters do you need?