Wipe some dirt on it, move on

Fashion relies greatly on word of mouth. Whether it’s a new brand, style, or an updated version; users will make a testimony on the product. Unfortunately, testimonials aren’t always true. I would like to introduce you to what I like to call “testimonial omission.” This is when current users forget and/or deliberately don’t tell all of the information about a product when spreading the word. I coined this phrase because I am a recent victim of testimonial omission.

A couple of months ago I purchased a pair of Sperry Top-Sider boat shoes. If you are a current owners of such shoes I have no doubt you are currently having horrid flashbacks of what I’m about to explain. Non-owners, you are completely lost. If you’re lost, keep reading, I promise you this could possibly save your life and more importantly, your feet. If you’re in tears from flashbacks, please hold yourself together… you’re in public.

Although these shoes are undeniably fabulous and a major trend for spring and summer, there is one thing my “friends” forgot to tell me about such shoes. When making the claim that these shoes are as comfortable as a bed full of kittens, my friends left out the “minor” detail that in order to break in these shoes you need, but are not limited to: the left eye of a Australian penguin, two hairs from the chest of Edward Cullen, three minutes of hula-hooping on one leg, and the ability to lose all feeling in your feet for multiple weeks. Because of testimonial omission I set forth for a big day in my new shoes. I regrettably inform you that there is now blood stains on the back of mine.

After painstakingly continuing with the breaking in process of my Sperry boat shoes and multiple complaints to my friends, some asked a now obvious question: why do you continue to wear them?

I stood there, dumbfounded, as my only answer to the question was “because they’re cute.” (Don’t judge me; I know I’m not the only one.) However, I was disgusted when I realized that the question had never once crossed my mind. And with that realization was the fact that we as humans, or maybe just as women, put ourselves through pain for nothing more than hoping that it will get better. How many times do we let relationships, of all kinds, continuously hurt us while we continue to convince ourselves that it’s just the “breaking in process?”

I think one of the hardest things in life is deciding when to keep trying and when to let go. I continued to wear my Sperry Top-Sider boat shoes because I thought that maybe each new day would be the day they would no longer hurt.

Even after being let down multiple times, I persistently continued with the breaking in process, and with each day it got harder and harder to admit defeat. I had already put so much time and effort into the shoes that quitting
would mean I wasted my time. With anything I think it is important to know when enough is enough. Unfortunately you are the only person that can decide this for yourself.

I’ve concluded one thing: it is always obvious to an outsider what is right. However, no matter how many times the outsider voices his/her opinion to the insider nothing is ever clear or fully understood until the insider reaches that realization on his/her own. Unfortunately, that realization may take months or even years, boxes of Kleenex, and a few tubs of ice cream, but one day it will all come together, and when it does, the shoe will finally fit.

I ask that you take at least one thing from this article and that is: shoes will always be worth the time, relationships won’t.

I’m kidding.

I hope that you grow to learn when enough is enough; I hope that you demand what you deserve, and most of all I hope you never settle for something that refuses to be broken in. Fashion may hurt, but never forget that relationships don’t have to.