How Long Has Everyone Been Barefooting?

Just a quick poll to find out how long everyone here has been going barefoot.

Any aberrations due to the rare encasement caused by inescapable situations needn't be counted as a discontinuity.

 

unfortunately, my job prevents me from being continously barefoot. i am usually barefoot continously when on vacations. i'm probably barefoot 90 - 95% of the time, if I am not at work.

thumbs up:hurray: to all of the 24/7 barefooters.:cheers2:

 

On and off since high school.

 

i could say 32 years.. cus i always hated them damn things and would remove them as soon as possible when i didn't legally have to wear them.. but i'll just go with 2 year 5 months and one week, today.

 

Same with me, off and on since high school. Things such as work and living in a state with harsh winters puts me back in shoes.

 

If I am to follow the strict rule of "real barefooting" given as the basis for this poll, I'd have to count my constant barefoot time (24/7 basis during college and afterwards living in an alternative communal place) up to a total of almost ten years.

Presently, I have my job requiring me to wear something on my feet, plus on occasions when frost is nibbling on my toes too much, I put on some emergency almost-barefoot shoes, too... this leisure-time and not-too-cold barefooting has been going on for more than twenty-five years, now.

Wiggling happy bare toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

The definition of "continuously barefoot" is a bit restrictive for me. Using this definition, I'd have to say a few days is the maximum for me. On the other hand, if you ask how long I've been going barefoot in public (bare soles on the ground) weather and work permitting, it's about 4-1/2 years. If you allow flip-flops (exposed feet, but no bare soles), again weather and work permitting, it's more like 15 years. As far as hating shoes and spending every available moment either in socks or barefoot, it's about 50 years!

 

Good question. I went barefoot quite a bit during my freshman year of college. (As many, many others have said, it was a lot less shocking then than it's become since.) I gave it up the following year; I had decided it was time to grow up and get serious about my studies, and walking around with no shoes on just didn't fit the program.

For the past couple of years, I've made a point of barefooting a few times a month, a few miles at a time, usually in parks. Only for the past two months have I stayed barefoot for days at a time and extended my hikes to five, eight and ten miles. Nothing helps ease the pain of unemployment like picking up a new hobby.

 

Definition updated due to feedback regarding the term "continuous". The revised question should be more inclusive.

 

as an answer to the revised question for the majority of my life. i grew up in the rural southern, usa. therefore it was uncommon for us as kids, to even wear shoes during the summer months. as a youth, i spent the majority of my time barefoot. i attended lsu (louisiana's largest public university) and was barefoot the majority of the time i attended college. as a young adult, i was on the corporate career path uke:so i limited my barefooting to home, beaches, camping, and rural activities. in the last 7/8 years or so, i have returned to living my life the way i am most comfortable, a barefoot lifestyle.

 

I started barefooting part-time during the long hot summer of 1976 (hot by UK standards!) and, liking it, i stepped up the mileage year by year, and now only wear shoes when work and weather require it.
I get a few comments, but they are nearly always positive, some very much so!

 

Miracle. The comments I get, even at the local HIPPIE coffee bar are only about half positive, half negative. People are just so incredibly weirded out about how one does not need shoes for protection against rocks and broken glass and look at me and talk to me as if I'm insane and that my desire to go barefoot is absolutely distasteful.

 

It may be a regional thing. I've gotta admit I'm definitely in the minority in Colorado going out barefoot, but I rarely get negative reactions. Most of the time it's ambivalence. When I do get a reaction, it's more that people seem more friendly, courteous, and chatty than anything. Maybe they wish they had the confidence to try it? Maybe it breaks down some barriers? Maybe they're curious if I'm a nut case and want to treat me delicately? Whatever it is, the reactions are generally good. Even the few occasions I've been told I needed shoes, the people were polite and almost apologetic when they spoke to me.

As far as being in the minority, it seems like maybe once each year I'll cross paths with someone else who's barefoot in public (e.g., in a store or business). Almost always it's a female - not a comment, just an observation. It's been noted before that women probably encounter less resistance to being barefoot in public than men. This is probably because 1) women regulary kick off their stylish shoes in public because they're uncomfortable; it's assumed the woman just had to get her aching feet off those heels, and 2) it's a bit sexy and no guy is going to ruin a good thing.

 

I think it is a regional thing. I live in Arizona, year-round flip-flopping country. Apart from a couple of teenage goofballs who shouted at me from their trucks (while they were making turns, I might add; they made damn sure I couldn't go Billy Jack on their ass), no one's openly expressed derision. Some people will exclam, "My gosh, he's barefoot!" in tones of pure surprise, and some will pull double-takes at my feet, but nothing worse so far.

On the other hand, I haven't gotten any strictly positive feedback, either. But who needs it? Barefooting should be an end in itself, not a means to win friends and influence people.

 

I can't stand to be barefoot. Even in the house I have to have socks on. Then again, here where I live, if you want to walk barefoot you can rest assured your feet will be burnt to the bones walking around here in the summer in Southwest Florida on this pavement. It just don't work that way here. Even the beach sand is 7 billion degrees Fahrenheit.

 

ever since i was born my mom wanted me to be natural, she always let me go around barefoot, sometimes buying me cute little shoes to wear but still to this day unless it's very cold out i go to stores and go out with no shoes on, so i put 15+

 

I remember the first comment, years ago, on a country path, two walkers were coming in the opposite direction, and after they had past, i heard one say to the other, "i wish i could do that". Very encouraging!
My favourite comment was "here comes someone who doesn't need boots".
The only negative comment was "get some shoes on" from a passenger in a passing car.
I've never been refused admission anywhere for being barefoot.

 

Don't underestimate what feet can stand with proper training. Aboriginals manage to go barefoot in Australia, and I know several Floridians who go barefoot in summer. On the other extreme, I've seen pics of people barefoot in the snow in Tibet mountains, and some Indian tribes who lived in cold climates also went barefoot in winter. You shouldn't try either just like that if you're used to wearing footwear, but if you work up to it feet can get a *lot* tougher than most people would think.

 

day 2!

 

hmmm.. i don't think a lot of people that voted on the poll read this...