New shoes are stupid (or at least that's what I thought)

Me a few weeks ago:

There is no point in buying new shoes. Well, there are some cases where it is warranted, but otherwise new shoes are one of the biggest letdowns known to man. Allow me to explain.

1) New shoes never feel as good as your old shoes.

They just don't.

Sure, they always take time to break in, I'm a patient person so I realize this. But each time I think the shoes should be broken in by whatever time period has passed, I start thinking back on how good old shoes felt. Sometimes, I abandon the new shoes for the old ones just because I can't stop thinking of them. Thus, I have several pairs of brand new shoes that are something like 10 years old. I can't throw those away either, but that's another story entirely.

This might be some deep-seeded issue with comparing old to the new (and letting go of the past) but I ain't reading to deeply in to this. Shoes aren't like cars, they don't get more comfortable. It's a conspiracy by the shoe industry to make them less reliable so we buy more. I'm not falling for their tricks.

2) If it ain't broke, don't fix it

If my feet feel fine, and if I don't feel like spending money, why worry about it? Sure the backs might be crumbling away and the color is 5 shades different from the original, but I'm cool with that.

I've worn a pair of shoes before until literally a hole had been worn into the bottoms. I even let my feet get a little wet before thinking maybe it was time to replace. Wet shoes don't smell great though, so I finally caved.

3) Cleaning shoes is impossible/pointless

Enjoy your nice new shiny shoes while they last ... for no longer than a day usually. Weather hurts, plus any tight spaces like bars where your shoes will most definitely be stepped upon or have various alcohols (the staining type, like red wine and jager) all over them. So all those white shoes that look so cool ... ruination immediately.

Me Now:
To hell with it. Unless it's old family photos or baseball cards or something, I have no desire to hang on to anything that's that old, especially something that my feet have been touching for that long. Furthermore, there's something to be said about having that "worn" look and feel to it which is fine, but looking homeless is another thing (nothing wrong with being homeless if that's your choice).

I put some old gym shoes in the garbage the other day and kind of stared for a moment, saying my goodbyes. Why do we have trouble throwing things in the garbage sometimes? Who knows, but I'm relieved now that every time I can throw something like this away and love the feeling when I buy a new replacement and think "that wasn't so hard. How good do you feel now?"

Again, not all old is bad. But seriously, 10 year old shoes? Who was I kidding.