On footwear (210/365)

[white_hart]

The hardest thing about going back to working in the office after 15 months of working remotely is having to wear shoes all day. I much prefer wearing slippers or just going barefoot or in socks, but the state of my office floor means that even without considerations of professionalism, barefoot really isn't an option at work.

I'm also finding that walking 1.8 miles each way on pavements is very different from going for morning walks in the countryside and my feet are definitely feeling the strain. This is probably partly because I'm not wearing my proper walking shoes, because I've been trying to manage without bringing spare shoes to work to change into or getting back into keeping shoes in the office (I still have a lot of shoes in the office, but none of them I shoes I would actually wear any more, and I've lost the distinction between "work" and "non-work" clothes enough that none of the shoes I do want to wear are ones I want to leave in the office and not have access to if I want them), and my walking shoes are definitely too hefty to wear all day.

I'm seriously wondering whether I should just get some work slippers. As long as they weren't fluffy, would people even notice?

Comments

[anna_wing]

Simple pumps from one of the orthopaedic shoe companies or the ones that do comfortable styles like Clarks in the UK? Oxford-style walking shoes are good too, in my experience, and don't need to be changed in the office. I discovered recently the joy of buying shoes from specialist ballroom dance shops and having them re-soled. The training or teaching models are often very like Oxfords, and extremely comfortable.

[white_hart]

Clarks shoes don't fit me, sadly. And I have tried looking for walking shoes that look like ordinary lace-ups, without any success so far (also, I suspect if I did they'd feel too heavy to wear all day, just the same as my normal walking shoes don't - I don't have to be particularly smart, but at the moment I find wearing shoes all day really uncomfortable unless they're very light).