Hey there : ) I know this topic is been done before but I have to ask, how do you get over foot shyness, especially going barefoot in public? I hope to oneday be a barefooter. As in throw away all my shoes and be barefoot 24/7. But I'm nervous when people stare. I'm especially embarrassed when im around my family for some reason... any tips?
Allright, here's some moral support for you, how to get started: 1. When you first get started, do your barefooting in private, when there's no one else around to see what you're doing. Just take your time getting used to the thought of seeing your own toes naked and exposed 'round the clock first. If even you yourself can't stand seeing your own feet, you'll have little luck progressing futher. The point here is that you don't become immediately discouraged if others judge your choice upon seeing what you're doing. During this time, you should also walk barefoot on a variety of surfaces to condition your feet, and to learn how they feel and how your soles will react to being in contact with them. This way you'll know what surfaces you're comfortable with and what to avoid. You'll learn to adjust your walking style with your surroundings. 2. When you're ready to advance to the higher leagues, try doing your first public barefooting sessions someplace where people don't know you. this has the added benefit of people not having any clue about your past history with footwear (or lack thereof). Most strangers hopefully are not gonna comment about your feet because it'd make them look rude. Even if they do, hey, they don't know you, so you can tell 'em anything you want about having barefooted for a long time now, and that person being the first one ever to say anything about your paws. Basically, make up some history if you want to appear more confident. They can't prove that you're bullshitting, and my experience is that nobody presses the matter for long if they believe that being barefoot is the "normal" for you. If you're exceptionally squeamish, do your first public barefooting sessions in a beach, or around a pool, where bare feet are nothing unusual. That way, you can be sure that nobody judges your appearance, and you'll get used to others seeing your feet in a relatively safe environment. 3. About friends and family... If you lack the confidence to just show it to them straight away, you could always try to be sneaky and get shit past the radar unnoticed. When you take a shower, conveniently "forget" to put your socks on when you get dressed, and just remain barefooted and act like nothing's wrong for the rest of the day, using the earlier shower as an excuse if confronted. If you and your mates are going out for a swim, make the whole trip barefooted, and justify it, if necessary, by telling that you'd have to take your shoes and possible socks off anyway when you reach the body of water, so no point bringing them at all. Most people will leave it at that, because it makes sense. I've yet to see anyone who goes swimming in their shoes. When it's summer, and it's hot, don't wear socks at all. Choose sandals as your shoes. After a while, you can just pretend that they're starting to feel uncomfortable and take them off and bare your feet fully. Especially if there's a heat wave going, most people that I know of will not question you, especially if they see you carrying the sandals with you. Funny how it works like that. The point here is that if you have a convenient excuse on your side, like just needing to clip your toenails for example, people will question you a lot less, making the transition much easier. Eventually you'll be able to make your barefoot state the new status quo, when others keep seeing your bare feet so much that they don't even question it anymore. At this point you can pretty much get away with anything, short of attending a formal business meeting, or someone's funeral in your bare feet. This is, of course, the slow and graceful method. You could also just rip your shoes off your feet in a grandiose fashion, and tell anyone who has a problem with it to go and shove it. But I never wanted my feet to be a big deal, so I took the graceful way in. You could try to surround yourself with people who are naturally barefoot positive, if you haven't already. That way, you could just get started right away, and not have to explain anything to anyone. If you already have friends who like to barefoot, simply join them in their fun. I can't possibly imagine why they'd deny you. So there you go. Shake it before usage, and adjust according to your own needs.
I battled foot shyness for years, had it quite bad in fact. Ever since the invention of the internet and these special interests groups, I've been able to connect to those who suffered the same feelings. It has been nice to finally come to terms that these thoughts are quite common. Not crazy after all! If you are looking for the magic bullet to relieve your shyness of your bare feet, sadly there isn't one. As said here, you must make it a constant practice to expose your feet in front of others. Kicking off your shoes, propping up your feet in a park, perhaps walking outside to get your mail barefooted, going swimming or even taking a yoga class are some good places to start. I'm not sure what part of the world you live in, but wearing sandals in warm weather helps. Your feet are exposed but you have the comfort and security of being shod at the same time. I've been put in so many situations where I had to bare my feet, actually I've lost count. Each time things got a little easier. I once lived next door to a woman 20 years older than me who was always in her bare feet during the summer. It looked so darn comfortable, I just had to start feeling the soul in my soles!
I used to have pretty severe foot shyness. I was lucky enough to mostly be over it when I started barefooting though. I'm also pretty used to doing/wearing weird stuff in public that get's me weird looks. That made my first barefoot walk a bit less nerve wracking. I think you will be surprised at how few people notice or care once you do it!
If you google the word foot shyness there's pretty much nothing that comes up that suggests of a chronic condition. Also from what posts I've read of this subject, it appears that nearly everyone who has dealt with this are males. Interesting........
I've never had that problem. Could be acculturation. As a kid visiting family in Mississippi, I went barefoot along with all my cousins and other kids. In the military I lived in a barracks and showered with other guys - can't be shy there. As a communal living, counter-culture hippie in the late '60s we all went barefoot whether indoors or walking the sidewalks of New Orleans. So, I guess I was lucky that going barefoot in public was well accepted - even required at some times - all my life. I am not shy being barefoot, which is also good since I live in flip flops year round here in Soth Florida - like most other ppl.
I really empathize with the OP and feel M_Ranko has said it all in his considered response. I was very foot shy when young. I longed to be barefoot but it seemed so wrong. At home I would be told off if I removed footwear, even indoors. If I dared to get barefoot when out, I always felt the foot police would immediately spot me and give me a good talking to. It gets easier with age of course, when you realize that actually no one cares about your feet. They are too busy going about their own lives. I think we tend to overthink the whole thing, instead of just doing it and going about our business.
Just another comment. Don't be tempted (as I did when I was younger) into thinking that you'll go out in shoes, then at some point when it seems right, you'll take them off. The fact is it never seems right. When I think back to the number of times in the past I 've gone out thinking this, and then never taken my shoes off cos I always felt like someone was watching and would immediately pounce on me for acting weird. All those wasted opportunities for being comfortably barefoot I spent just fretting about when to take my shoes off. You just have to go out barefoot quite brazenly as though it's the most normal thing in the world (which actually it is), tough it out, and forget that you're doing anything unusual. Also remember you'll probably get no comments, you'll get far fewer stares than you imagine, and those that you do will be out of jealousy that they haven't the nerve to do the same as you.
Hey there Ms. S, have you tried anything to reverse your foot shyness? I'm curious. Could you perhaps be unhappy how your feet look? Have you ran into any sticky situations where you had to bare your feet and didn't want to? I know how uncomfortable those can get. Feel free to share if you are comfortable with talking about it.
I admit I dont have the best looking feet. Im a girl with rather manish feet, ( probably because I'm trangender MtF ) My feet dont look that manish but theyre not very feminine either. Also, I get alot of gross dead skin on my heels and the corners on my toes (like hang nails) If my feet were cuter, I would have no problem being a shameless barefooter
Maybe a pedicure is the confidence boost you need? I have pretty gross cracked heels too, but when you are walking around no one can see the bottoms of your feet either!
I'm definitely a guy, and the tops of my feet have hair growing out of them, from the ankle to my big toe. If I don't shave them off (and trust me, that's exactly what I do during the summer, twice a month just to keep my feet presentable), I'll look like a goddamn hobbit. Now, I don't know what your taste in clothing is, but I wear pants with legs long enough that they go all the way down to the ground, covering my feets so that only my toes and some of the front foot remains visible. And of course my bare sole, when I lift the foot. The point of this is that since my foot is partially covered like this, while still actually allowing the full barefoot experience, I find myself caring less about how my feet look like, since they're not fully visible to others around me thanks to the long pants legs. You can see that I'm barefoot, but you can't see my feet in full detail. That, I find, has helped my confidence. So, if it also helps yours, you could try to get creative with your barefoot time clothing choices. Wear something that helps to mask some of the aspects of your feet that you're particularly unhappy with, while still allowing the full bare soles against ground skin contact that I assume you're yerning. As for your nails, nail clippers are our friends. I keep my nails always trimmed to lessen the chances of breaking them.
