I dislike wearing socks for two reasons.

Firstly, my feet overheat very quickly and easily. Even in the middle of winter, wearing socks around the house can cause my feet to start burning. I will usually go barefoot in winter, even in my freezing house, because having numb toes is preferable to having boiling feet. And I have had numb toes before; on several occasions my toes will go white and numb, and I’ll have to sit in front of a heater to get the blood flowing again. But even this is preferable.

Because when I say my feet are burning, I’m not exaggerating. When I overheat, it feels like all the blood rushes to my feet. It feels like they are on fire. They feel swollen, and almost like they are about to explode. Sometimes I can reduce this feeling by putting cold water on my feet, to relieve some of the burning. And sometimes hand cream can help with the feeling that there is just ‘too much’ blood in my feet. But often these measures don’t work well enough, and I’m still uncomfortable.

I sleep with my feet out of the covers, even in winter. In summer, I cannot even have them touching the bed because they start to heat up. I’d rather a monster jump out from under my bed and eat me than have my feet boil, as it’s impossible to sleep when they hurt like this.

I can’t stand slippers either, because they heat my feet up very quickly. I can tolerate wearing socks and shoes when I go out, because usually I’m moving around enough that the blood keeps moving. But still, I’ll often be in class and start to feel my feet overheat, and there is nothing I can do. The only thing that helps relieve the discomfort is moving my legs and feet, so I’ll often bounce my legs, cross my feet, swing them back and forth, and just keep moving so I can focus on the lesson rather than the overheating.

The second reason I dislike socks is the texture. So far, I have found one pair/brand that is actually comfortable enough that I like to wear them. Most socks are itchy, have tiny lumps in them, and have little fibres that rub against me and irritate me throughout the day.

Even the smallest item can cause discomfort, because my attention is completely diverted towards it. I always empty out my shoes before putting them on (a habit I picked up from Australia where you have to check for spiders in your shoes) to clear out any annoying debris. Usually, this isn’t enough, and I’ll have to go rooting around inside the shoe for whatever is causing me discomfort. And of course, this can take extra time and potentially make me late, which increases my anxiety levels even more.

The one type of sock that is comfy for me was bought for me last Christmas because it had a short, long, ginger dog on it (similar to my own dog), and it was pure coincidence that it worked for me.

But even these socks can overheat me, so I usually go barefoot if I can. Apparently, this makes others uncomfortable because seeing me barefoot on stone floors in the middle of winter makes them feel cold too.

Yet when I see people wearing thick woollen socks, all I can think is how itchy that must be!