Getting over the embarrassment

Nor I.

If you're really serious, I just cannot see how that is normal. Is there something odd or deformed about your feet that you are ashamed for them to be seen? I guess not, because you mention you've been barefoot outside your home, yet there seems to be some problem with your being barefoot within your home, especially with your mother around. I'm not a psychologist or anything like that, but there's just something not right in that kind of thinking. Were you taught as a child that bare feet were obscene or something like that?

 

Nope, not at all... I have no clue where my skewed thinking on the subject comes from... But like I said, I'm quite different I've noticed, but that's what makes me so great

 

You know what though, I was embarassed when I first started (which was like back in the 7th grade) because I didn't know what my friends would say if they saw me walking home from school without shoes. Back then I had a paper route (dating myself) during the summer and I started doing it without shoes. My friends with other routes made fun of me for a bit, then started doing it themselves.

Fortunately, I also hung with a bunch of cute girls then who never wore shoes, even at school and on field trips (they constantly got busted for it). They would always take them off some place and leave them. So when my friends saw who I was hanging out with, they just took it as something we all did. That helped the embarassment a lot. After that first year, no problems. Then I went to high school, which was a surfer's high school....yeah, I got spoiled there! Students AND teachers didn't wear shoes.

 

Maaaan! That must have been HEAVEN! A bunch of cute girl schoolmates, all inclined to go barefoot all the time?! That's just a screamin' opportunity to give a bunch of cool babes foot massages!

COOL! When did you go to school? Was this a '70s thing or something? Where was this school located?

-Jeffrey

 

i wish i could go to a school where students AND teachers didnt wear shoes!! im TOTALLY jealous... at my school they are they shoes nazis i swear... RAWR.

 

Hi Leeza,


I'm going to echo a lot of the thoughts of the folks who have already posted but I think it's important for you to know just how many of us there are who feel the same as you, have had the same inhibitions as you, have managed to overcome them and have never regretted doing so for one minute.

I have felt more comfortable barefoot for as long as I can remember. As a kid I was rarely, if ever allowed to run around barefoot outdoors by my parents (which probably only exacerbated my desire to do so).

When I hit my teenage years, my folks pretty much relaxed into a 'He's growing up so he can do what he likes' mode. However, I was so inhibited by the 'Oh my God, what will everyone else think of me ?' attitude that I didn't dare to ever go barefoot. Even though I was desperate to do so and envied anybody who I saw who had 'the courage' to do so.

After a while I used to indulge my 'forbidden desire' with barefoot walks on dark nights where nobody could see me (as many others on this list have done at some time in the past).

Eventually, I started to brave the great 'daylight outdoors' and venture out to local shops or on other short errands barefoot during the day. However, I always made sure that I was never seen by anybody I knew. I would have been mortified if that had happened. Why ? Irrational fear is all I can think of.

Finally, I just decided "I've had enough of this crap. I'm a big boy now and I can do what the bloody hell I want. Frankly there is no reason why I should give a damn what anybody else thinks." So I decided one day to turn up at a casual gathering of friends of mine barefoot.

Well, guess what ?

The world continued to turn !!!!!

I got a few enquiries as to why I wasn't wearing shoes and I basically brushed them off with comments such as 'I just didn't feel like it.' issued in a matter of fact 'why did you even ask me ?' tone of voice. It proved remarkably effective.

From then on I basically kissed shoes goodbye. I carried on turning up for stuff barefoot as if it was the most natural thing in the world (and, after all, it IS !).

For a little while I'd get the occasional bit of light hearted teasing ("Hey, the hippy's arrived !") but I just laughed it off, essentially ignoring it. Most importantly, however, I continued to go barefoot everywhere. After a surprisingly short time it simply became the expected 'norm' (for me, at least).

Nowadays if I arrived at one of our gatherings with shoes on it would generate all kinds of comments and raise eyebrows all around the room.

Bottom line. There is no 'easy formula' for overcoming one's initial reluctance to 'break the norm' and, essentially, open yourself up as a potential target for ridicule. It is natural to be nervous about it. However, I firmly believe that you will find, as I did, that it is nowhere near as bad as you fear. Going barefoot is bound to raise eyebrows initially as, let's be honest, it IS unusual but I'm convinced you will find that it really is nowhere near as big a deal as you think it will be.

Go for it ! You will not be sorry that you did. I Promise !

 

um,
what if you have toenail fungus?
*runs and hides*

 

hehe, i went to school one day and my flip flop broke. talk about unintentionally barefootin' it! *giggle*

but hey, i pulled it off like i meant to do it, and it worked just fine

it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day too, and the grass was cool beneath my feet.

 

I think the schools oughta let you go barefoot as long as youre learning the stuff you should be and not disturbing anyone or causing a distraction.

 

Hehe, cute one. Toenail fungus is caused by shoe-wearing. It will go away if you go barefoot all the time.

 

Well, that stuff is supposed to be pretty deep-seated and tenacious... but there are cures for it.

It's certainly no excuse to not go barefoot. If you don't want people to see it, go to a doctor, get it cured, and then start going barefoot!

-Jeffrey

 

do you think so sweet dream? i mean, i know that athletes foot will clear up that way...the fungus needs darkness and moistness to grow, and all that, but i dont know if it'll be such an easy thing with toenail fungus, cuz it really messes up ur nail and even the meds they have take a long time to clear it up (course maybe that's cuz they assume u r wearing shoes, i dunno). i would be psyched if it just went away on it's own by not wearing shoes. maybe i'll post this somewhere else too....thanks

 

oops, thx jeffrey, i didnt see ur reply at first. yah, exactly, it's supposed to run pretty deep . i actually have an appt on monday so yay. maybe it'll cure faster in bare feet . thanks guys!

 

baby steps, try driveing around barefoot. maybe drive to a convinence store and barefoot it, just work your way up to goin majorly barefoot

 

Last summer I proved to myself that I had no problems walking/being in public barefoot.

but as barefootrick put it

I still fear running into someone that I know while out and about barefoot.

 

Last year, when I started barefooting as a lifestyle choice (my mom discouraged it when I was younger) I wouldn't go inside school barefoot; I just wore sandels. Then, summer school came, and I eventually just came barefoot (sandels in backpack in case the administration became interested). So when I finally came back to school, I just wore sandels for a good two months, then I'd barefoot a little bit. Then, finally, I just constantly came to school barefoot.

Just introduce that aspect to people and the more you do it, the more you feel comfortable with their opinion towards it. Thus, the more comfortable you will be with going barefoot.

 

It's something a lot of us who were brought up to believe that shoes were the norm and there's no reason not to wear them all went through. I think what eventually got me through it was running into someone I knew and answering their questions in a very straightforward matter of fact way. Generally people won't be afraid of you, or over-react or get hysterical. They'll just ask the obvious questions. Simple questions to which there are simple answers.

For example: You know that broken glass isn't as common or dangerous as people might believe. You know how to avoid it by watching where you're going and you know that your skin will toughen up pretty quickly.

Or another frequent question: Doesn't it hurt? Well there's a bleedingly obvious response to this - "If I didn't find it comfortable, I wouldn't do it."

Also you can turn it around. If someone sees you and stops to talk you could say, "gosh - your feet must be suffocating in those big trainers in this weather - how can you survive like that?"

You know you're comfortable that way. I still find myself a little uncertain as to the outcome every time I'm barefoot in public in front of someone who hasn't seen it yet, but I've yet to get into a massive row over it with anyone, except my mum, who will bring it up everytime - after all she's the one who had the biggest part in my English middle class "shoes are the norm" upbringing.

 

Nice to run into you again, DG - have you tried barefooting yourself yet or are you still just lurking in the shadows looking out for the barefoot girls?

 

i love barefooting, the weather is finally getting nice enough to do it again. if you're nervous about it try wearing some funky toe nail polish and toe rings, stuff that makes you want to show your feet and see if it helps.

 

Bottom line is, the only way to really do it is to jump in at the deep end as it were. What I used to do before I built up the confidence to risk running into my friend was to go barefoot on holiday. Chances of running into your mates there are remote enough for you to feel comfortable giving it a go, surely! Then if you do it a lot, you'll start to feel really comfortable with it. You'll notice people looking at you, and you'll notice that most of them don't bite, in fact most of them like to pretend they weren't even staring as soon as they've realised that you noticed. They know that you're not in the wrong and that they shouldn't be staring really. Well most of them. And the ones that don't ARE in the wrong.

If you do get asked a question by a complete stranger about it, well that's a good time to practise your responses to it. Don't be nervous, it's perfectly ok, and feel confident. YOU know why you're barefoot so explain it to them and it'll make sense. And it doesn't matter because they're complete stragners and they probably won't even remember it by the time the go to bed at night, and they certainly won't remember you or make jokes about you with their mates in the pub or anything. Once you're confident about it then you should be able to manage it with people you DO know as well.