Most people do not want to be the Red Guy who is looked at as different by the Blue Masses. They all got shoes on and its just me without ! Are you foot shy or just shy about not conforming to arbitrary norms ? I think its all a wrong perception though. If you are going barefoot in the mall the false belief could be that people have a problem with it but in reality many are thinking that would be fun and they want to try it too but going against the norm is too much for them.
^ in reality, many are thinking "i need to get to sephora." people have their own lives to think about. they don't have time to do a visual survey of what everyone else's feet look like.
Maybe because in Asian countries it is costmary to take off shoes before going in peoples houses no one is shy about their feet ?
yes i never need do that as always barefoot, i wash feet before go in other people home if water spout is available.
I was very shy about my feet as a kid and gradually less through adolescence but still to the point of not going out with any part of my feet showing. I would say it was late 20's early 30's when it just began to fade away and now I am barefoot beginner. I had read that the part of our brains that handle the feet, sensation and so on is very close to our sexual organs center of the brain and it had me wondering if our brains somehow associate the two when it comes to our general feelings about them. When I was shy about my feet it was always around girls. Incidentally at 44 I am also very open about my body now and so even that regard I am not shy, nudity and so on so perhaps there is a correlation. The best way to get over it is just do it, I started by walking down to our mail box barefoot and anything that would be a quick jaunt to build up confidence. I think foot shyness is more prevalent than people admit the same was foot fetishes are, like I have had three girlfriends who had foot fetishes and were actually upfront about it. The literature would say that is rare but I think the reality is different so there may be a lot more foot shy people out there.
Not too long ago, some of it is still left. I decided to go barefoot at lunch in my school (the dress code says nothing about shoes) and I started out pretty nervous. However, an administrator of the school walked by me, and nothing happened. I was able to get by with no shoes, that boosted my confidence since no one really cared. Only one person really said anything, but they said something to the tune of "that's the spirit" which helped too.
My shift towards largely venturing barefoot dates back to 2009, when I began to research barefoot running in greater detail. I learned that in order to accustom the feet to such rigours, in addition to strengthening the arch, the fat pad in the forefoot needed to increase in thickness, thus, providing the metatarsal heads with protection. The only way to increase it was to expose the soles as often as possible to the surfaces upon which I usually ran (tarmac and concrete). As such, the removal of shoes became necessary, in order to ensure its development.
So....am I to understand that you never wear shoes? Ever? This is difficult to fathom, mate. For example....can you go barefoot at work? Out in a restaurant? At the local mall? Please explain. Thanks.
This sounds a lot like it could have been me. When I was younger I didn't have a problem showing my feet or wearing sandals, but especially once I hit my teens, outside of walking to bed from the shower, I had on socks (realizing I had a foot fetish had some to do with this, I'm sure). Once I got into my 20s I kept a pair of sandals hidden in my truck that I would put on for going to a friend's house, but once I got home I switched back to shoes and socks, even if it was 100 degrees out. Finally when I hit my mid 20s I pretty much said to hell with it and brought them inside and wore them in front of my parents, much to my mother's surprise. Since then I haven't looked back and wear socks as little as possible. Even in the middle of winter, around the house I am almost constantly barefoot. So if anyone is shy about showing your feet, don't worry about what anyone else might think or say. Just go barefoot and enjoy it.
Being shy (about anything) is a social symptom. Ask yourself: when you're on your own, what do you think about your feet? I've never been shy about anything because I consider that it's my world, and I tolerate other people in it as long as they don't piss me off. When they do, I tell them off or I go somewhere else where they are not. But in any case, I do what I want in my world. If you adopt my attitude, you'll go a long way towards solving any shyness problem.
@Iloveme im glad for these threads. Just seeing other people with the same problem if you I notice if you could you would go barefoot earlier if you guys could. So no regrets I’m going barefoot starting in my early 20s