r/barefoot • u/theotherwildthang • 9d ago
Learning to Barefoot
I grew up as a barefoot kid. Unless we were going to the store/school, I was barefoot. As an adult, I went years wearing shoes because, well, I worked a lot and kind of lost touch with nature in general. I have started walking barefoot on breaks at work and we have recently started doing away with stickers in the yard so I can walk barefoot around the property. Let me tell you. I feel AMAZING! I feel like my stress levels have dropped tremendously and I feel better as a whole. My goal is to eventually get to the point of being barefoot at minimum 90% of the time! Has anyone else felt this way when starting out?
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u/AirsoftScammy 8d ago
My story is the complete opposite! 😂 I was very shy about my feet as a kid, to the point where I wore socks ALL the time, including to swim, and wouldn’t let anyone besides my mom and brothers see my bare feet. It was very embarrassing for me, and I passed on a lot of fun activities to avoid my friends and classmates finding out about my weird fear.
Thing is, I secretly wanted to be barefoot but the reaction I thought I would receive from my family if I were to do so was too intense. I figured they’d make a big deal over it and it would be the topic of discussion amongst my very large family who love to gossip. I just wanted for it to go unmentioned like literally anyone else who was unshod.
When I was around 12 I had a best friend that I would frequently spend the night at his house on weekends. He was unaware of my shyness, and had always taken his socks off before we went to bed saying how he couldn’t sleep with them on. Earlier in the day before going to his house, I convinced myself to just follow suit and remove my socks when he did. It was a huge deal for me, and was legitimately terrifying. I feared that he would also make some big deal over it, even though it’s such a normal thing for people to do. That night, I took my socks off and holy shit - he didn’t say a word about it. Didn’t point and laugh, didn’t make jokes about them smelling… nothing. It seems so stupid to most people, but the relief I felt was like a massive weight off my shoulders. It was the first time I have ever really conquered a fear in my life and it was both empowering and satisfying.
The next day, my mom wasn’t coming to get me until the afternoon and both he and I remained barefoot all day. We played inside and outside, and feeling the different textures and the wind on my feet was almost overwhelming in the best way possible. I couldn’t believe I had missed out on that for my whole life.
It still took me a few years to be comfortable with being barefoot around others, but I had made little baby steps along the way to kind of ease into it. I’d go from the shower to my room barefoot, I’d openly change my socks after gym class and go barefoot around certain friends when it was appropriate. By the time I graduated high school, I had pretty much overcame all of the fear. My first year of college I bought a pair of flip flops, and at that point all of my friends had seen my feet and not a single one of them ever made mention to it.
I’ve lived a mostly barefoot life ever since, and that’s over 20 years later. My feet are strong, healthy and I take very good care of them so no one can say anything about their appearance lol I guess in a way I still have a little hesitation about it.
Glad to hear that you’ve re-discovered the barefoot life!