This article is a guest post by Jessica, a 30 year-old neonatal nurse who lives in Kentucky. In addition to her nursing responsibilities, Jessica is a wife and a grad student. She’s a proud member of the FiveFingers Army and was kind enough to share her recent experience with the famous footwear.

The first time I ever heard of Vibram FiveFingers was several months ago when my husband was talking about what type of watershoes to wear on our upcoming cruise. When he described that they looked like toe socks but with a sole, I just laughed and dismissed his comments. Knowing how I can’t stand the feeling of my toes being individually constrained by fabric, I knew I would never wear anything like that in my life. Fast forward to last Saturday.

While eating lunch at a local coffee shop, my husband spotted a lady in black shoes at the counter ordering coffee. Upon looking down at her feet, I spotted what looked like toe socks. Immediately, I remembered the conversation with my husband. The shoes made their way towards us and my husband immediately struck up a conversation with the lady.

The basics were covered; “How do you like them?“, “Where do you wear them to?”, “How often do you wear them?”, “Where did you get them?”. After hearing her story, I knew down in my feet, I had to have my own. Thirty minutes later, despite fabric being between each of my toes, I purchased my first pair of FiveFinger KSO’s. My feet were in heaven!
Of course, being the Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter addict that I am, I posted pictures of my new, happy feet for all my friends to see. Comments arose, with most being skeptical of my new purchase.

“You are only going to wear those around the house, right?”
“If you are really wearing them out right now, I will never doubt any of my clothes or shoes that I wear ever again.”

I was starting to think my purchase wasn’t the right one, but they felt so great on my feet and I could tell such a difference in my walk just after a few hours. How could something that felt so good be so wrong? I even had a dare to wear them to church the next day. I mean, Jesus wore sandals right? And, most of those in biblical times went barefoot or had some type of sole covering their feet, didn’t they? Mine just ended up having a bit more fabric to them. How could I not wear them?!?!

When I sat down on the pew in the auditorium of the church my darer looked down at my feet to see if I actually wore them. She silently laughed, smiled at the sight and nudged her husband to look. I quickly raised my feet up and wiggled my toes at him. After services, all those that saw my feet basically asked the same questions my husband had asked the lady we saw the day before. I was happy to tell them how comfortable they felt and how my feet could actually breathe. Even my preacher thought they were “cool”. I just had to laugh at this statement and agree with him.

I had read on the FiveFingers website that my FiveFingers helped stimulate certain muscles in my legs and feet that normally would not be used when wearing regular tennis shoes and would help improve my balance as well. I should add that I’m pretty clumsy and can stumble over my own feet. From the first time I put my new “shoes” on, I could tell that these are much more natural and would help keep me more stable on my feet. Problem solved! I’ve enjoyed sharing my experience with all of those that have given curious looks or have asked questions about my feet. I hope to share the love of my new walk with everyone I meet.
Follow Jessica on Twitter @MrsRN2u or find Jessica on Tumblr: http://pleasantly-plump.tumblr.com.