There was a man whose feet were flat, which caused him to get bunions. And when he would speak at conferences, he would get so tired that he could barely stand after two full days. Over the years, he would try orthopedic inserts; he even purchased some orthopedic shoes that were made in France. The salesman described them as the best fitting shoes in France. When he arrived home, he decided to compare how good these new shoes felt compared with some existing soft soled shoes and his sneakers. When he got home, he tried the soft sole shoe on one foot and the new orthopedic shoe on the other foot, and then he started walking around. After walking around for a while and getting in a panic, he took off the soft sole shoe and then he put on his sneakers. He then began to walk around, and he discovered that his sneakers also felt better than the “so-called” most comfortable shoe in the world.

So he phoned the salesman and said that he was having a little buyer’s remorse and explained what he had done. The salesmen said “I think I understand what happened. In America, they confuse fit with comfort. Europeans equate fit with the long term structural support that the shoe provides. Even though your other shoes feel more comfortable when you put them on, by the end of the day they will leave you much more fatigued than the shoes that you just purchased. You can read more about it in the shoebox.” He instructed the man to wear the European shoes around the house for the rest of the day, and if he did not like how they made him feel, he could get a full refund. The man was a little hesitant, but agreed to the request, and wore the shoes throughout the entire conference that he had that weekend. To his surprise, he felt like a new man. His legs did not bother him at all. In life we usually decide how happy we are by how comfortable we are, but what is immediately comfortable does not provide the long-term structural support we need!!! In life we cannot focus on immediate comfort, but on where does the long-term structural support that we need come from.