BAREFOOT SHYNESS

It just never fully go away does it?

 

Sure it does Killa,and this is the perfect time to start....July 1st,hot and sunny,just don't bother putting them on and every day you'll be a little less self conscious about it. It will take a bit to grow a few callous pads so you can walk on gravel or hot pavement,but start today and good luck!

 

We people (among which I dolefully include myself) are almost always sensitive to “others,” and those others aren’t going barefoot like “we happy few.” So there’s almost always a sense of difference. But we can’t control what others think anyhow, so you may as well enjoy yourself because whatever you do, somebody will think something and...’round and ‘round we go! Go barefoot! Feels fucking great, don’t it?

 

I've never had a problem with foot shyness, but I know a lot of folks do. The best advice I can give is to remember that most people don't care, they probably don't notice if you're barefoot or not.

Life's too short to not go barefoot.

 

Your advice is on track. Most people do not notice, and the more people around, strangely, the even less likely they are. An experiment once demonstrated that if you had a big guy in a blue shirt waiting on you at a store and he was talking to you and "bent" down to get something for you, and a skinny guy in a red shirt stood up and kept the conversation going, nearly half of people never noticed the switch! Amazing.

 

For years, I never gave a second thought to taking my shoes off when I walked into the house.

After reading through a few HF threads and all the fetish undertones, I am now worried about taking them off when I get in the bath.

 

I can't remember the last time anyone made a comment on the fact I was barefoot while walking down the street. Often people will do a quick double take and look at my feet as they pass but that's all. Queuing in a shop today, I noticed the guy in front giving my feet a few sneaky glances, I wonder how many people would secretly like to kick their flip flops off but daren't.

 

I bet there are a lot. And still others who want to take off their shoes and socks and join us. I was one as a kid.
Be barefoot, and be happy!

 

I think the only time I feel slightly self conscious about being barefoot is when I go for an early morning walk at the weekends or like this week when I'm off work. I love doing it, but I wonder if it looks like I'm out early because I don't want to be seen barefoot... which is definitely not the case, I love people seeing my bare feet.

 

Sure is funny, ainnit? Old habits die hard. Even I still regularly do a risk/reward analysis when I go out. And sometimes I just choose poorly. We had a town fair a while back. I thought about going barefoot, but the weather wasn't all that great that day (a very cold wind was blowing), I wasn't feeling it and I also had other places to be, so I brought my sneakers, only to witness 3 other people at the fair, who were openly barefoot DESPITE the bad weather. One of them was a brave, 10 year old girl. It was one of those times when I felt like I was betraying my art. Now, had it not been that visit to the bank, where I didn't wanna look like the village idiot, I might have chosen differently and gone bare toes.

 

I’m not a bit shy about going anywhere barefoot and love showing them off. And the comments about most people not noticing barefeet are correct. Except for those that are looking. I’ve had good and bad experiences going into stores barefoot. I’ve been approached by store personnel and told that I need something on my feet. And there are those who remark how cool it is to be barefoot. I walked into a Walmart at a time when there weee a lot of people coming and going in the main entrance. One young women was walking out, looked down at my feet and smiled up at me. We said hello to each other but kept walking. As I looked back a couple of times I caught her looking back at my barefeet. She obviously noticed them among all those people. She was wearing flip flops and my guess is that she wanted to be barefoot also. So getting back to my previous comment—-she was looking .

 

my guess is that you're the only one who would ever even make that connection.

 

Me, too!

 

I've been out all morning making the most of the lovely weather, so far I've walked almost 7 miles - all barefoot. I guess my feet have been seen by hundreds of people just today, and no one made a comment, not to my face anyway.

I've said it before but walking barefoot around the centre of a city or town on a warm summer day is one the great joys, all the different surfaces and textures, inside and out, going from the hot pavements onto the cool floors of shops etc is such a nice experience. More people should get over any shyness and worries about stepping on something sharp (which has only happened to me a couple of times in all the years of going barefoot) and just try it.

Going back out soon and I certainly won't be wearing shoes

 

You are so right! If they try it, they'll like it. I was hooked from the first time!!!

 

Stepping on something sharp becomes less of a worry when you’re always barefoot do to the thickened callous on your soles. Some caution is still needed. I’ve stepped on broken glass and had to pick some shards out of my soles but didn’t get cut due to the rawhide on my soles. I have cut the soft skin higher up my arches that isn’t thickened and quite a few bee stings in my life. Walking around Pittsburgh barefeet and going in and out of the shops is an awesome feeling. I’m in total agreement with you.

 

Walking barefoot is one of the greatest pleasures ever!

 

On the subject of the ever so "important" what people think part I agree that when people see us barefoot they think to themselves that they would like to be too but are too shy or conforming I guess.

I am going to make a topic "bare feet in advertising" one of these days but they do that cause people like going barefoot even though they are not regulars and all awkward at it. Out product is great you get to be bare foot ! Is part of the message.

 

How do we define barefoot shyness ?

I don't have bare upper body shyness but if I went into the bank to cash my check without my shirt on I would feel shy about it.

Again how are we defining barefoot shyness ? Like real bad where in situations like at a pool or the beaches where its expected causes a person anxiety or on the other end someplace like the airport where people are all up tight ?

In my opinion real foot shyness is when people are affected in situations where going barefoot is the social norm and it still causes anxiety or avoidance.

I was a little shy about my feet, not real bad and I think what made me overcome it more then anything else was learning how to go barefoot. It really is like learning how to walk all over again. I think I have only watched that TV show Naked and Afraid maybe twice but their biggest survival problem seemed to be not having shoes. Covering up their private parts not that much of an issue. Put me on that show Naked and Afraid ! Oh, I don't have any shoes, big deal just another day out of 1000s barefoot so what ?

All I know is it doesn't take long to loose the awareness that you are barefoot if you just do it for a wile. Two weeks your feet muscles toughen up, watching where you going/stepping becomes automatic and just the way you step and navigate becomes automatic or more like returns to normal after years of wearing shoes caused the normal ability of a human to traverse barefoot to shut down. That natural ability comes back fast.

So its my opinion this thing called "barefoot shyness" is caused when people feel naked without their shoes and that is overcome by learning to traverse without them.

My best advice is if you live in an area where you travel in a a car daily is leave the shoes in the car, make it a rule. You have them if your out you need them but break that habit of waking up and putting them on right away or going home and not taking them off. Nothing else helped me break the shoe habit then the shoes stay in the car rule.

 

It's true that there is a difference between foot shyness and barefoot shyness. While out yesterday I would say the majority of people were wearing sandals or flip flops, so they're not shy of people seeing their feet in public.

Based on my own experience I would say a lot more people now days go barefoot at home and are relaxed about anyone seeing their feet there. I've never worn anything on my feet at home, but when I was younger most of my friends seemed to wear socks or even shoes indoors. My next door neighbour is often barefoot in the garden and comes around to my house in her bare feet, but she wouldn't dream of going out without shoes. I've told her she should try it but she says she couldn't imagine being barefoot in public.