The High-Heel Challenge
February 17, 2009
A woman can add 3-inch pumps to any outfit and instantly look bold and sexy. What is it about the heightened heel that changes everything?
I’m intrigued by the concept and the design of a high-heel, particularly stilettos. (I will wear stilettos by the time I’m 75 years old.) Maybe I’m fascinated with it because I hardly ever wear heels. And when I do wear them, I do not walk as cheeky as I would like. Some women glide; I stumble down the street laughing at myself the whole way. Practice and patience are very much a necessity.
I own a few pairs of 2-inch heels, but I rarely break them out. I usually don’t feel the need to tower over everyone a few more inches than I usually do.
But if I like the confident image the shoe portrays, shouldn’t I just wear it anyway? I need to own the extra inches as if they were part of my body. If I wear heels 6 out of 7 days a week, will I hate them forever or will I start gliding much like the petite women I see walking down the streets of Manhattan? It could go either way.
I like a challenge. Let’s add a new one to my life. I challenge myself to wear high-heels for one month. I’m pretty sure I’ll accumulate a few new bruises along the way.
I challenge all women that don’t feel comfortable wearing heels to push yourselves and push your height for a month. 6 out of 7 days in the week. One day is for absolute rest. Your feet will need some R&R.
If you’re addicted to heels, and your friends and family never see you in flats, I challenge you to do the reverse, and wear flats for a month. Can you handle losing the inches? What will change? Absolutely nothing? Your whole view?
Write down some notes about the added inches or the loss of the heel in your life and send me your story.
February 20, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Oh, heels! I miss my heels! I miss how they make any outfit look great, make me feel sexy and stylish…. but a few years ago the last 3 toes on each foot went all tingly and I started having a lot of pain in the joints of my feet. A podiatrist told me that I had to start wearing orthotics in *gasp* flat shoes!! And not just any flat shoes, not the cute kind, but shoes with some decent support and enough space to fit the orthotics!
I thought I would die. But I really had no option, so here I am years later still wishing now and then for my heels but mostly wearing Earth shoes and finding walking much more comfortable.
February 23, 2009 at 3:19 am
Michelle,
I’m sorry you can no longer wear the heels! Flats can be fashionable, right? Thanks for the note.
February 23, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Hey Kira –
Good luck with your high heel challenge! I’ve already done the don’t wear heels challenge, though not by choice
I’m 5’2″ and my height didn’t really bother me until my younger sister grew taller than me. Suddenly I was the shortest in the family and I already was shortest at school etc.
So starting around age 16, the only shoes I wore that were flat were running shoes when I exercised. I even wore sandals with heels around the house. An added benefit to wearing heels for me was that pants which were usually always too long became the right length.
In spring 2007 my parents bought me “nice work shoes” – gorgeous black pumps. They were my first pair of stilettos and once I learned to walk in them, I happily wore them all summer to work. That fall I developed plantar fasciitis in my left heel area and I am quite sure it was from those shoes. My foot got worse and actually in the winter of 2008 I had to go on crutches and stop running for a few months due to the inflammation around my Achilles and arch. Since then I have barely worn heels because I have to have 2-3 layers of inserts in my shoes for arch support and that is not easy to do except in the most sturdy, sensible, flat shoes. I wear running shoes everywhere and even at work, I only change out of them when I have to go to a meeting. Then my foot will end up hurting just from walking around the office without my layers of inserts. If I try to wear heels, my foot starts hurting within minutes.
The biggest problem I face not being able to wear heels is that I haven’t been able to wear many of my clothes or feel as confident when I do wear them because running shoes just don’t go with everything! Occasionally I grit my teeth and wear heels so I can wear a skirt but I always pay the price. The upside is I can run to catch a bus or run to make a light as I see women all around me who can’t because they are teetering by in their high heels. I feel much safer wearing flat shoes because I know I can run very easily if I need to. Even if/when my foot finally heals, I don’t think I will wear heels as much as I used to. I like the freedom of movement too much.
I also think I am in a more confident place than I was as a teenager or in college and so I don’t feel the need to dress up (including heels) all the time. I am happy to revert back to some of the styles of my elementary and middle school self and wear jeans and tshirts with flat shoes more often.
h