Regret From Believing The You Need Shoes To Function Lie For So Long

I just believed it for so long that without shoes I was pretty much like helpless, how far from the house could I go ??


So I get this idea lets see if I can toughen up my feet and in a few weeks I could function fine without them. Walk a half mile to the beach, easy. And its not even so much about toughening its like re learning to walk. Hard to explain


There is a thread here "stubbed toes" I wont jinx it, I never do that anymore, you just learn to watch your step without even thinking. Became a complete reversal from that total awareness of I am barefoot when I was to this sucks I am wearing shoes for what ever reason,


I have regret I did not discover this sooner in life.

 

i guess you could say you got scammed

 

i see a lot of people comment about this sort of thing on here, and i'm curious where this sort of thinking originates. like, most hipforums barefooters seem to have never had their shoes off until they became adults. did your mom make you wear shoes around the house as a baby? were you literally never barefoot under any circumstances?

 

im actually glad ive been a technical barefooter since i was 13. im 17 now and my plan is as soon as im out of school and stuff, never to wear shoes outside the house as much as i can

 

Actually, my mom and some of my so-called "friends" tried to pressure me into taking them off in ways that made me feel disgust towards the thought of being barefoot. And that was the big issue, really: People who fussed over it and turned it into some huge deal instead of, you know, letting me decide for myself? Everybody tried to control me and do my thinking for me, so of course I resisted. It was pretty ridiculous, really, and left me feeling quite a bit of regret, because in hindsight, I now know I probably would've enjoyed living a barefoot childhood. I sometimes curse my family and some of the people that I knew with a passion...

What also made things worse is the fact that I'm on the autism spectrum, so therefore, among other things, pretty sensitive about my body in general. Taking my bare feet to a public setting was a massive hurdle to overcome in itself. As far as other clothing goes, I still don't remove my shirt in public, unless it's in a public pool, a doctor's appointment, or if there's a promise of sex to be had. I also don't much care for shorts.

Of course, I did bare my feet in situations where it was appropriate, or the only smart thing to do. Shower, swimming, gym class (what the Britbongs call PE)... Gym was one of few times where I was able to go barefoot while being relaxed about it. All the other kids went barefoot as well, this was mandated by the gym, because they didn't want their expensive lacquered floor ruined with shoes, so my feet didn't stand out in that flurry of naked toes. And it was a nice opportunity to check out some of the barefoot girl students as well, in their oft relatively revealing gym clothes. When I was 12, I also did experiment with barefooting briefly during this one summer, when my parents were away from the house more often than usual and I had an abundance of private time. But it didn't stick as a habit that time, I was still too nervous about it.

Eventually, adulthood hit me, I moved out to live on my own, and was for the first time in a situation, where others couldn't influence me in any way. Upon the discovery of a case of fungus in my toenails, I decided to revisit my childhood barefooting experiment, and that time it stuck. It cured the fungal infection when I ventured into the realm of snow footing, and some of the other supposed health benefits seem to be real as well, not to mention, having well developed foot muscles feels surprisingly satisfying, after years of suffering foot pains from poorly fitting sneakers.

In conclusion, some of us have had troubled childhoods regarding the use, or non-use of footwear, and only later have we had the chance to do something about it. If there are others still willing to reply, I'm certain that stories similar to mine would begin to emerge.

 

I'm very similar. I too am on the autism spectrum (aspergers syndrome), and my parents were not barefoot enthusiasts, only in the traditional places. I'd always be chided for trying to go barefoot in public, because they also believe that shoes are necessary to protect me from infection and sickness. While true in very very few cases, I was dumb and believed them. So for the longest time, I didn't even wear flip flops, because I thought feet were viewed as gross. Then I learned the realities, and didn't care, so I ditched shoes for the warmer months.

 

It's really therapeutic for me to read of others who suffered with the same forms of shyness in regards to exposing our feet to the world. In the fifth grade I found myself in a very uncomfortable situation regarding going barefoot in gym class. I failed to wear my tennis shoes to the first session of the school year. Nevertheless along with three other kids lacking the proper footwear, we were required to take off our shoes and socks. I remember standing there numb and frozen while two other girls got barefoot, me and another boy kept our hard sole shoes on. Somehow we both got away with it thankfully. The fear of exposing my feet to others was so stifling, even though there were others barefoot in the class. It was nice checking out the girls feet btw....In retrospect, I wish I hadn't been so terrified of going barefoot when I think about it . Kind of depresses me now, as I lost a perfect opportunity to be barefoot at a place with dress codes and other such rules and not get scolded for it.

Going shirtless was also problematic for me as well, I most certainly dreaded those shirts and skins sport activities in middle school. Nowadays I still despise wearing shorts other than swimming, but will always muster up some confidence and go shirtless with blue jeans in situations even outside a pool area.

 

I have every sympathy with the above thoughts and felt much the same when younger. Am annoyed in hindsight that I wasted so much time and anguish feeling like this instead of just going for it. I think that's why I now rarely wear shoes and like to wear as little as possible.