No Longer "foot Shy" In My Neighborhood

I did barefooting last summer and earlier during these heat waves, but I was always still a bit hesitant going near maintenance staff, or past the rental office. Not anymore.

See, recently I've walked past maintenance staff and whether they were comfortable with it or not, I mentioned it was good exercise. This whether or not they mentioned I would burn my feet, and in fact if I could stand still I called that out. Resolved: they will see me walking around the neighborhood barefoot, and will either wave hello, or just ignore me as I walk on by.

Then that woman I mentioned who asked me if my feet hurt, also not wearing flip flops... still barefoot for that distance.

Then yesterday there was a woman walking down the hill as I was walking up it, carrying laundry basket in hand, barefoot (whether or not the shoes were in the laundry basket). That's barefooter three, and barefooter women take to hot asphalt walking longer distances anyway, clean soles or dirty soles. Quick look back showed they were going to cross the street, so I was clear to stand and start heat training without them walking back up the hill and thinking "I was waiting for them to walk back up". I think they might have been reddening clean soles, but nothing that was anything worth being impressed for a second look since I've done much longer and even stood for several tens of seconds to over a minute, in addition to tens of minutes of walking... all on blacktop... avoiding shade.

I've also seen a college aged man walking around shirtless and shoeless even if just to the laundry room and back. More than once, and not just going to and from the swimming pool. That's barefooter four.

Doesn't matter if it's only occasionally or almost daily... that's three additional barefooters in addition to me.

Today, a man walking in the aisle of garages just behind the pool with the entrance behind the rental office with no shirt. Shirtless even more visible than shoes. That's two shirtless, one barefoot and shirtless.

Overall, that means I can still say hello to apartment staff walking by or driving around in golf carts, and then only ignore them if they ignore me or just walk on by if they are giving future residents a tour. Overall, that means none of the other barefooters can judge me because they were without shoes at the point I saw them, even if they won't be barefoot any other time soon, which means others saw them.

 

i usually wear sweatpants when i do laundry. i've seen at least two other people in my life wearing sweatpants. therefore, even though everyone in the world wants to judge my sweatpants, no one has the right to do so.

 

Unless your sweatpants show something that you can be ticketed or arrested for, no one has the right to do so. I mean, they can, but then what are they wearing that can be judged? Thought Hipforums was based on hippie (or used to be referred to as hippy) lifestyle? Even though I don't embrace all of it, I definitely am part of the group of those who go barefoot.

 

I saw a guy walking his dog on a pavement trail. I had shoes on. I wouldn't want to stub my toe!

I've walked on pool decks that are cement a lot. I was a pool rat. I know how badly it hurts to stub a toe, that shit totally sucks.

 

Worst I ever did was split open the ball of the foot on one of the soles (years ago so if I recall it was the right foot) and just behind the toes. Hit it on the edge of a curb, it cut wide open. That part of the sole was starting to become that much thicker, and I ruined it having to heal it as a large cut. Thankfully it did not scar. Taught me to slow down and step more deliberately over them when approaching curbs at pedestrian crossings when I didn't finish crossing on the ramp section.

Then there was that one time I broke my little toe hitting it on a parking space curb, careless step, but it healed well after a few days, no deformity. Didn't need the boot even though they wanted me to wear it at first, buddy taping to the fourth toe was more than good enough.

Two injuries in over a decade of barefooting, whether weekends only or daily when possible? Normal part of the experience, I would say, even though I will be more careful both don't happen again.

 

Here in Miami Beach, men go shirtless all the time, including me when jogging (wearing shoes).
When I am around the apartment complex, I go barefoot and shirtless. (In my apartment I am nude - only put on cutoff shorts when I leave the apt.)

 

only when i get excited...

 

Well it's funny because my downstairs neighbor saw me today, and while he didn't say anything, he pointed down to my feet in disapproval. I put him in his place right away: "everybody looks, everybody comments, it's no big deal, I guess they haven't heard of hang ten".

Seriously, even if I was Phoenix AZ or Mesa AZ, flip flops in hand just in case of emergency for rapid foot-burning (otherwise in a waistpack if I knew I had a couple of spare seconds)... I don't know... if I could last a parking lot distance to the nearest grocery store, are they just as irritating in hotter areas just asking to be barefoot up until quick-blistering to 3rd degree burning hot asphalt... or it just just California inland when during inland humidity it makes flip flops sweaty in tens of minutes?

[Been to that Phoenix/Mesa AZ area twice in summer, but unfortunately both times with someone disliking going barefoot, once they didn't want me to do it on SIDEWALK just from the hotel room to the pool area! Who cares if it was around 105 degrees and not yet PEAK heat, because it was all white sidewalk and even some grass to the side if I couldn't deal with the heat... but I didn't want to argue. I knew I could do it at most walking faster and not even having to hot-foot, since it was sidewalk.

Excessive heat on the feet or not during peak heat and for much shorter distances on asphalt, that area is mostly dry heat for excellent non-allergy weather conditions! While I do know about Valley Fever, that general area is paved with little to no worries about blowing sand.]

 

Now if I walk by... they either wave hello, or else if they are working in a garage they sort of hide in it. I don't worry about how I look except for if I am deliberately doing standing heat, because let's be real that it is different from regular walking. Standing heat while talking to one of them? I already showed them a few weeks ago that I would rock on the feet if it was burning my feet (when they politely commented about it) but haven't had to do that yet. Suffice to say they are more foot-shy than I would be. At some point if they see me standing heat training and I want to educate them, I'll tell them it's better exercise barefoot and I have to get used to hotter but even flip flops don't give me the full range of motion even if I get dirty soles that I can wash off later. If they have any problem with it and still don't want to talk to me about it directly, they have my mobile phone number to call me directly. Otherwise, they'll end up tolerating it as "that barefooter" which means good enough for me. If they do have a problem: flip flops in hand and what can they say? If I put them on then I will take them off once they are out of seeing me, and if in their sight I will put them on again, and that's that. It's not like I am going into the rental office in bare feet anyway.

 

I'm shirtless pretty much all the time. It's the best thing I've found to stop crutches chafing under my armpits lol

 

I used to be shy but now I'll get out and go walking without a care