which places did you go barefoot?

I just got home from a trip to an auto paint supply store & a Lowe's Home Improvement store. I took my sandals with me in case I needed them, but left them in the truck. I'm still "testing the waters" in public. No one said a word at either place. I don't know if anyone really noticed, but I did interact with at least three of four people & walked by several others.
I'm not working any more (at least for now) so I don't have to wear safety shoes any more either. I may be permanently retired. arty:
It is starting to feel like I might be able to go barefoot all the time without too much trouble. :hurray:

 

I went to the gasstation this morning and felt no shame whatsoever. I've noticed, that i'm becomming much more confident walking about with no shoes.
Still, sometimes, i still hesitate to go into a store or shop barefoot. I've now learned, that i shouldn't feel dissapointed in myself, when i lost my nerve and shoot on some flip-flops. As i walk more and more barefoot, i become increasingly self assured and are now doing things, i wouldn't dare a year ago. So progress is made!

 

Been going almost everywhere barefoot still. I went for a bit of a barefoot hike today and that was really fun! I stepped on a wasp yesterday and I think it might have tried to sting me on my heel but I barely felt it! I did stub my toe today though. I felt that one... it was my pinky toe and part of the nail came off and it started to bleed. My poor footsie...

 

I know how you feel after stubbing you toe. The other day, after I posted about going to town barefoot, I was working in my shop & driveway on my project. I had my air compressor hose pulled out into the driveway where I was working & tripped over it. When I did that, I stubbed my big toe on the blacktop breaking it open. It's going to be sore for a few days, but I still haven't put any footwear on.

 

Ouch! I hope it heals quickly. At least mine was on the top where the nail was so walking around definitely won't affect it.

 

When I hurt my foot it always happens at home. Never on the street.

 

Today i went for a hike!

After some thoroughly cleaning yesterday, my feet were imaculously clean again, i took them out for a spin today.

clean feet


The hike consisted of a walk through forest and a variety of undergrounds.
7km in total, with in the end, the beach!
Last week i scouted some of the route ahead, and found that it was perhaps challening, but do-able.
When scouting earlier, i took my flip-flops for problems that might occur. Also i felt more secure taking footware. Since i'm an unsecure person, i found myself shooting on the flip-flops whenever i thought there would be difficulty. Not the main underground, but people passing by, created difficulty in my head.. It's called footshyness, as earlier red in this forum.
Especially groups and childeren are a challenge.
When people are alone or with a pair, they at least don't comment on the situation, but in groups people feel more at easy and commend on your 'strange' behaviour.
So, flip-flops ready that time, shoot them on any time groups or other people are passing bye.
Not today though.
I felt secure this time, and left my flip-flops at the car and started the trail with no footware at all. It's a 7km hike, so if something happenend or people where displeased, there was nowere to go..
For people who are foot-shy like me, this is a good practice! You'll just have to carry on, nowhere to hide and thus making you more secure at the end!

The path was very challenging, at first with paths with broken shells that will keep and make your feet clean!:


Still, after a couple of km, there came the first change in underground:
Den needles:



wich really tickled my feet.
So nice to feel those small, but tiny needles .
It also maked me once aware, that it is so importent to place your feet right! That will mean, under your body! If you place your feet flat under your body, with the outside of your feet first, then the front and
finally the heel, you can walk very far. It feels unnatural at first, but fast, short, paces will be your goal!

then came the wood-chips
It's like a foot massage, but much nicer. It also helps to make your arche of your feet stronger, because a lot of chips are piercing in.




After this stretch it went easier and i hit the sand grounds, with was fun and nice





And the occasionally animal droppings



It curls up between your toes and is so nice to feel, but also hard to come off and stinks, really

After that, i was homefree and ran into the ocean, with made my feet cold and clean.

Let me tell you this, i ran into several people. Most of them didn't respond. The people who did, where in groups, and...where positive!
"oh, it must be fun barefoot" etc etc.
I had one negative reaction without my trip, and that was from an elderly women, who didn't said hello to me (typical) she said to her grand doughter out load, that man is looking painfully, doesn't he? and that's all because he's not wear.... (she was way passed me, when screaking her voice, but still)

So! I had an super fun day, and let it be inspirational to all!

 

Ungh, feces. My one, true hard limit. Something that I will never, ever step on willingly, not even with shoes on.

Anyway, over the past weekend I had to make a trip to another town some 60 klicks away for some business. Usually in the past I've worn shoes when I've made this trip before, one thing that I remember about those trips is that I always ended up finishing them with some more or less major foot pains due to my shoes pressing from all the wrong places. This time however, because the weather permitted, I decided to eliminate the pain factor completely, and did the whole trip barefooted. With the exception of one establishment, where I wore my sneakers for some 15 minutes just to avoid potentially unwanted attention from the simple-minded looking staff, I spent the whole day in town in bare feet, visiting places like a hamburger joint, and a super market, all without any problems from the people surrounding me. After 5 hours of running from place to place, even though I only ever sat down when I drove my car, I had no pains in my feet whatsoever in spite of standing on 'em for hours. With shoes eliminated from the equation, I could've easily kept going for another 5 hours more without needing to rest much or sit down.

With positive experiences like these, I'd be ready to adopt a full 24/7 perpetually barefooting lifestyle right now, if only the winters wouldn't put a damper on things. I've been barefooting increasingly more, as much as possible for the past two years in particular now, and I can already tell my feet love me for it.

Barefoot driving is also pretty kick-ass. You just can't beat the extra sensitivity you gain for handling the pedals barefooted. Anyone claiming that you're endangering traffic safety with barefoot driving is a damned uneducated idiot who has no idea.

 

I had an awesome barefoot day 2 days ago! We went to town and did some shopping and I had worn my crochet barefoot sandals. I went into almost every store that had told me I needed shoes before and no one even noticed this time! Those things really work! I even went to a place called the barefoot beach resort. It's a beach resort and camping area.3 They have a row of stores that are part of it too, so I went into all of them barefoot. I had a great burrito for lunch there! I noticed some other barefoot people too, but it's hard to tell if they normally go barefoot or not.

I had a not so good barefoot day the next day. Our van broke down and we ended up standing outside in the blazing sun for an hour waiting for help to come. There was no shade anywhere except for over a burr patch, which I jumped in without really looking because my feet were burning. I then got to sit in the hot pavement and pick barbed burrs out of my feet. Luckily the tougher parts of my feet seemed to be impervious to the burrs! My fingers got full of the little barbed fuckers too, from trying to pick them all out of my feet. That was the only time I have wished for a pair of sandals this summer.

I still prefer be in barefoot though. My feet are completely fine now.

 

Oeps wrong post? There's already a topic running for that: (created by you) :clown:
Just kidding. Maybe unthinkable for you, but no biggy for me. Good to read that you walked the entire day in town! Experiences like these strenghtens us in not wearing shoes on a more
permanent bases!

Those things are terrible, i never get used to those stingy little prickers. But no damage done in the end luckely Mattekat

 

I just had a great couple of barefoot days! I wasn't barefoot the entire time, but I got to do a lot of things.

Yesterday I took a greyhound bus overnight and once on the bus I slipped off my sandals and no one really noticed the rest of the time. I met a fellow barefooter on the bus too! He was an Italian guy who has been travelling for the last 11 years. We had a great conversation and went for dinner together barefoot during the bus layover, which took a few hours. I also went into my first public washroom barefoot at the bus station. It wasn't so bad.

Today when we arrived in vancouver I did wear sandals for the first part of the day, but eventually got rid of them. We got to a hostel where we are staying tonight and no one here cares that I am barefoot. My friend and I went for a walk in the woods nearby after we cooked ourselves some pasta. Being barefoot on the trails felt really good.

I plan on adventuring around vancouver tomorrow barefoot. I will probably bring some sandals in my bag just in case though.

 

I barefoot at the beach, a hiking trail, in my house and in my yard, that's about it. I don't want other peoples blood, spit or pee, bubblegum, gasoline, dirt, chemicals, syringes to touch my feet.

 

I've Barefoot past the marshes, Law Croft Rd,very peaceful.

 

Good luck, mattekat. Have fun. I bf'd round Vancouver when I was over there years ago with no probs at all. Mind you that was back in the 90s. Hopefully attitudes haven't changed too much

 

My barefoot day around Vancouver was successful! I hope to have another one tomorrow.

 

Went to the movies and saw Straght Outta Compton

 

I went barefoot all around the Bloor west village today. I went in the convenience store and bought some cigarettes.
I talked with the guy behind the counter for a minute. He didn't say anything about me being barefoot.

 

I spent almost my entire time in vancouver barefoot. I also managed to take a plane while barefoot. No one in the airport seemed to even notice!

 

After work I went for a walk around the town centre barefoot, It's the best way to unwind I love how the surfaces in town feel, I like balancing on the curbs, walking on the road and the cobbles of the town centre, I like the dirt near the river and even walking over bits of glass. I know a lot of people clearly avoid glass but I've always found I can walk over it without getting cut or having shards embedded in my feet.



I haven't been barefoot as much lately because I've just been working so much, it's nice to be able to feel the earth under my bare soles.

 

The remaining warm summer days are starting to get low in numbers here, so I've been taking every opportunity I can to barefoot all over, anywhere I can. Though this resulted in a minor injury at my local hamburger joint recently. My big toe on my left foot got caught between a moving door and the concrete floor recently, resulting in a minor bleeder because of the metal parts on the door. I applied some first aid by soap washing the wound in the bathroom, and then applying some of the hand sanitizer on the wound that the bar&grill so conveniently keeps available for their patrons. Was forced to stay in sneakers for the rest of the day, just so that the piece of toilet paper that I wrapped around the toe wouldn't fall off. But on the following day, everything's back to business as usual.

I again encountered two other people who had also decided to leave their shoes and socks at home, a middle-aged bicycle lady wearing a summer dress and no shoes at the hamburger place, and some dude at my local shopping mall who only had a T-shirt and shorts on him. Feels good knowing that bare feet really aren't that big of a deal here.