In march I injured my foot leaving me suffering through multiple steps to help heal my foot (none of which have succeeded). I was finally put in a walking boot, and let me tell you the struggle is real. I am currently enrolled in college, and have to walk everywhere.

Most of the time a person is in a walking boot or removable cast of any type, you usually have more difficulty getting around than your friends. Most of the time it actually stinks, so here are five relatable things that only people in a walking boot can understand.

1. Trying to take your boot off in your dorm room while your roommates are asleep.

2. Trying walk in the rain.

Usually when it starts to down pour, a person tries to hustle to get out of the rain. Well, your boot says otherwise. Your fast walking is usually about the speed of a normal persons walking stride. On top of not being able to walk fast to get out of the flooded college campus caused by the rain, your foot sleeve and your boot itself will end up soaked. Leaving you with a wet sock and cold foot. Also you boot can get pretty nasty smelling.

3. Having to plan your outfits to not look totally ridiculous with your boot.

Wearing certain items with your boot can prove to be challenging. Like those long short/Capri yoga pants that stop right before the top of your walking boot. Or wearing a long maxi skirt/dress where you have to wear the boot and it bulks out from under the dress looking like some sort of weird deformity.

4. Not being able to get up and down places like you usually would.

Stairs are now the newest challenge in your life, and in college you sometimes have no choice but to take the stairs. The steps sometimes being too small that you have to walk awkwardly sideways, or your boot gets stuck in the the space between two steps. Or trying to get down the steps and almost slipping and falling to your death from going way too fast.

5. Getting asked “Oh, you still have that boot on?”.

The world’s most annoying question when in a walking boot. Obviously they can see that you are still in the boot, and need to draw attention to that fact. As if being in a boot was not annoying enough, being asked that question simply makes it worse.

Have you ever tried to unstrap your straps quietly? Well, you obviously did not succeed. The Velcro serves to be a huge noise maker. It is almost like trying to sneak into your house after your curfew and you parents have bells on the door.

Being in a boot simply sucks.