Whenever my shoes become worn out, I begin to feel nervous and stressed at the thought of replacing them with new ones. For me, shopping for shoes is a mentally and physically taxing job because I have such picky feet. I want to avoid the cumbersome process of finding suitable shoes. I wasn't born this way. When I was younger, I didn't care much about my shoes. I often ran a few hundred meters in slip-ons and never complained. I chose and bought shoes just by their look and didn't give much consideration to how my feet would feel in the shoes. No matter what I do in my shoes, whether I walk, run, travel, do weight training or a 24-hour shift in the hospital, I just bought one or two pairs of good-looking sneakers and used them until they got worn out.
Perhaps I became sensitive about shoes after I went traveling for a month with the wrong shoes. At the time, I was wearing sneakers from VANS. If you know that brand, you may give a deep sigh. As VANS is a skateboarding shoe brand at its core, they produce flat shoes with wear-resistant stiff soles, which are definitely not for long-distance walking on varying terrains. When I regretted choosing the wrong shoes for traveling, I found myself in hospital. I was in and out of the outpatient rehabilitation clinic for over two months because of ankle pain, and full recovery took a few years.
Now, I'm much more careful about choosing shoes. I mostly prefer sports shoes, but even highly recommended brand shoes are often not satisfactory for me. I like light shoes with good support and cushioning but not tightening. The features I want are in a trade-off relation, so it makes my problem tougher. I try on a heap of shoes from many different stores before I decide.
Choosing comfortable dress shoes was another level of agony because dress shoes are made of leather and not comfortable by nature. A few years ago, I came across Cole Haan, a footwear brand, and they turned out to be my problem-solver. They make far more comfortable dress shoes. Since then, I've bought dress shoes from there whenever I needed new ones.
I've recently gotten into hiking and realized that my NIKE running shoes are not durable enough and don't have a good grip on rugged terrain. I hunted for shoes that grip better on dirt and gravel and finally found a pair. At first, they were only for hiking, but now they've become my everyday shoes because they are comfortable. Fortunately, they don't look like ugly hiking shoes. They just appear old-school style sneakers that fit well with everyday outfits.
단어와 표현 정리
don't give much consideration to ~에 크게 신경쓰지 않다.
be born this way ~하게 태어나다. 원래부터 ~하다
give a deep sigh 깊은 한숨을 쉬다
wear-resistant 마모가 잘 되지 않는
be in and out of ~에 들락거리다
varying terrains 다양한 지형
in a trade-off relation 모두 만족시킬 수 없고 서로 상충하는 관계
by nature 본래
rugged terrain 울퉁불퉁하고 험한 지형
have a good grip on ~지형에서 (미끄럽지 않고) 접지력이 좋다.
grip better on ~지형에서 (미끄럽지 않고) 접지력이 좋다.
dirt and gravel 흙과 자갈
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