"Beauty is pain"

understanding inner beauty possibly more painful

I recalled a conversation with a friend of mine a few years ago when in it I asked her what size foot she was, and her reply was a 3,4 or 5; she was a size 5, but when it came to that perfect shoe, she would squeeze her foot into a size or two smaller.

I recall laughing and asking if she was serious;

"Beauty is pain Marcus; beauty is pain."

Now it does not take a female to read this to understand that wearing any footwear a size or so smaller would be very uncomfortable and indeed lead to pain.

For the final piece of that perfect outfit, to have those must-have pairs of shoes, these are the lengths that some will go to.

Others see that as insane, extreme vanity, and pure stupidity.

To endure such uncomfortableness for a night out or event is senseless.

Sometimes we must admit and accept it; the shoes do not fit.

To change the narrative of shoes to, let's say, people, social groups, relationships, work environments, and nights out, do we become hesitant to admit these do not fit into making our lives the best they can be?

Do we force things to fit us?

To appreciate our inner beauty is not so easy and harder to accept, which can and is painful.

To allow us to admit certain things do not sit right with us fully.

How often have we felt uncomfortable, in pain, with a constant dread inside us, just like those throbbing feet?

Unhappy in a day-to-day relationship that does not make us feel at our best, the group of friends or group chat that the constant conversations leave us uneasy.

In that workplace, you stay under those bed covers that little bit longer to prolong having to get up and go into.

Or possibly the thoughts of that night out, with people who spend most of the night on their phones or perhaps in the toilet cubicles as pairs.

How often do we stay in all of these or continue to do so, for whatever is the easiest excuse or reason to come up with?

Yet that feeling inside does not leave you, and you wonder why?

That cranky mood, that snappy attitude, irritable personality, and a sickening feeling in the stomach, all of which are hard to associate with people and situations, unlike the throbbing, blistered feet we can put down without doubt to those small shoes we insisted on wearing.

Looking within and listening to your gut feeling, allowing yourself to question how you feel, act, or are around these people will tell you all you need to know.

Once that is revealed, once that is figured out what you do next is by choice.

Do you wish to sit with that uncomfortable feeling, with slight pain thinking it won't lead to more significant, deeper pain and hurt?

Or will you remove those shoes?

I'm sure you know that feeling of walking in the door at the end of the night or a hard day's work and kicking off your shoes, that loud sigh of relief as the throbbing reduces from your toes.

Again, if I was to repeat the above and replace shoes with social groups, relationships, work environments, group chats, social media accounts, behaviors, and reactions to habits on nights out.

What shoes have you outgrown and are too small and need to be thrown out?

As always, thanks for reading.

Marcus.