Sore Feet, Happy Heart

Oh ... my achin' feet!

I haven't complained much (at all!) about my feet since my miracle foot doctor designed the most awesome orthotics for me last spring. I have felt as though I was walking on air. Well, perhaps that is a bit of an overstatement. But my feet have been more than a little bit happy since this wonderful invention specially designed for my tender tootsies.

Then I started dancing again.

I am not certain that the two are related, but foot pain while I was delivering flyers started very close to the time I resumed my dance lessons. Perhaps my orthotics reached their prime at the same time and need to be adjusted. But the way my feet feel this morning (after two hours in my dance shoes last night)? I am thinking that the dancing is a big part of the issue.

Dancing verses staying at home. Moving verses the hypnotic state I go into in front of the TV. Laughter and spending an evening with people verses the solitude that I so enjoy. Happy heart verses complacent one.

Orthotics for ballroom dance shoes. In my experience, pretty shoes and orthotics do not go together. In fact, I feel about 90 years old when I talk about 'my orthotics'. It just sounds like a word that belongs in an old-person's vocabulary. Spoiler alert! Who the heck do I think I am?? Just look in a mirror, girl! You aren't getting any younger! Plus, age has nothing to do with a person's need for orthotics. I probably should have had them decades ago.

I am one-third of the way through the dance lessons that I have bought and paid for. I have no idea if I will be able to afford to continue at the end of this batch of lessons.

I quit participating in Zumba classes because of my feet. Knowing now, what I didn't know then ... I should have found a way to fix my feet and keep active. Orthotics work in running shoes far better than in ballroom dance shoes. To anyone living outside of my body, the answer seems obvious ...

... but to me? It is the entire dance experience and social aspect in the safety and comfort of a dance studio that I have been going to (off and on) for fifteen years that has my head in the clouds and hoping to find a way to make dancing comfortable (as well as fun).

Practicality verses reality. I have running shoes that work. I have dance shoes that ... don't.

I wonder if they design orthotics to assist a person in walking outside of their comfort zone??