These Boots Were Made For Walking

What can I say, I'm a chaotic bi with a penchant for sword fights. Needless to say, a nice pair of boots are necessary to fulfil the truly confident bisexual I wish to be. Alas, I did I fell into my bi reckoning during my no-buy year (read about it here). Determined to stick to my rules, I decided to do the next best thing: thrift them.

Finding the right boots

My no-buy year stipulated that I shouldn't buy anything I didn't need and anything bought had to come from a second-hand location. In addition to giving me the bi confidence I wanted, I was in desperate need of waterproof boots. According to the cobbler, my boots were beyond saving and unless I wanted wet and cold toes thanks to London's endless rainy days, waterproof boots were non negotiable.

And thus, I settled Dr Martens boots. Without a doubt, they are THE most classic sapphic boots on the market (although some may argue that some small, boutique stomp-y boots are more sapphic). Now if you'll notice in the thumbnail, I didn't actually buy the most classic Doc Marten style, combat boots. This brings us to the second part:

Buying the boots

Here's where buying second hand gets a bit iffy: the supply does not always meet demand. Now, the thrill of the hunt is part of the appeal of thrift shopping and I can spend months hunting down a single piece to ensure perfection, but people, we were on a strict timeline. Winter was approaching, my boots were falling apart more every time I wore them, and I could not stand the feeling of slightly wet socks. You know the feeling? It's just damp and the only thing worse than keeping them on is taking them off just to put them back on again later.

Now my preferred method of second hand shopping is Facebook marketplace as I spend a disproportionate amount of time scrolling through Facebook instead of paying attention in class.

There are SO many choices to be made when buying things secondhand. Perhaps most importantly, is this the right size? How worn out is the boot? Why did the previous owner dump it? And then we can get to the design questions. Do I like the colour? The style? And finally: is this a reasonable price?

Ding ding ding, we found a winner! Certainly, not in the combat boot style, but the chelsea boot is sapphic enough for me and my wet toes.

Breaking the boots in//letting the boots break me in

Let me tell ya, breaking in these new boots was not easy. The pro of buying boots off someone because they bought the wrong size is that the shoe has not been broken in and thus not moulded to their foot. The con is that the shoe has not been broken in and therefore, you may get a broken toenail or two. I certainly did. But like the veteran ballerina I am, I powered through it.

The boots didn't seem to really do much for me in those first few weeks besides giving me broken toenails, but then the magic happened. Slowly but surely, the confidence I thought I would gain by realising what I thought I should look like. Fake it till you make it does work, I guess.

The heavy nature of the boots made me step more carefully and walk with more purpose. Whereas before I walked with so little noise that I frequently frightened others, these boots announced my presence in a way that I never could alone. Feeling more grounded, I became more invested in myself, in standing up for myself and believing in myself.

And maybe, just maybe, one of these days theses boots are gonna walk all over you.