Are you alone in your going barefoot or not?

Most definitely.

 

I saw a couple of others earlier this week, but that’s super rare. The first guy was crossing the road from a parking lot going toward athletic practice fields at the big nearby university. I crossed his path while on a short barefoot run. The other guy was in the university natatorium, waiting for his kid’s swim team practice to end (like me). Lots of kids coming and going from swim and gymnastics in their bare feet too, but they don’t really count.

 

Alone. Yep. Shit.

 

Yes, I'm the only barefooter around where I live. But it suits me. I just want to be different. But it makes me even more happy when I see someone else barefoot.

 

Where I live it’s cold in the morning it’s in the 30’s and I still go out to stores and other places barefoot I love my barefoot lifestyle I will never stop going barefoot.

 

Since I am just easing into it, combined with not really having any friends (0 my own age to be exact), I see myself being alone in this for the for seeable future. I seen one guy late at night in a store doing it just walking around and that's it. That also happens to be the same market I shop now barefoot at every weekend in the morning. Today though was cold, later in the morning. Dumb paranoid me wore flip flops in there. I absolutely hated it too. My feet felt all sweaty and only my soles had something touching them, the flops. Now I find myself in a conundrum. Hate shoes but still self concious others. Regardless, I am still out there trying it, doing it more and more before it gets too freezing temperatures. I am starting to think in due time I may be a 90% of the time barefooter. The other 10% being work, and other unique situations.

 

I wouldn't say I'm the only one, but I am for sure the only one doing it in the dead of winter too.

 

When it was warm I would walk barefoot in the grass along side the black top walking jogging trail, and people would notice me but no one except one man asked when it was in the 50’s if my feet were cold.
At my church this past summer during vacation Bible school a young man and I did the games outside and we both were barefoot.

 

I’m the only one that goes barefoot all year around . But I have had friends and some family members give me socks for Christmas but I always tell them I don’t wear shoes or socks ever so I have a bag full of socks that I give to the homeless shelters

 

It is very difficult to find someone to walk with. I see a few each year while driving but there is no way to approach them.

 

It...I grew up in a semi rural area. So it was somewhat common to see others out barefooted in the warm weather. Most outgrew doing it by the time we were 12 or 13 or ish. Even I did it less in those years. BMX biking was all the rage, and that wasn't a good barefoot activity. I never really outgrew barefooting though, whereas most others did. I was reawakened to it some when I started college. There were barefooters here and there on campus. Not sure if it was a conscious "lifestyle choice" or not...(?) It wasn't prohibited anywhere except in science labs. Most of the people I saw were dorm residents, so I'm guessing barefooting was just...easier?

These days I'm lucky if I see 3 or 4 random barefooters per warm season...at least away from expected places such as swim areas.

My own kids and some of their friends were barefooters growing up. They're definitely not "anti barefoot" by any means, but they grew out of it a lot also. Little kids, both the kids of acquaintances and random strangers, seem to be the ones most interested in trying going in bare feet? I've seen younger kids see me and pull their shoes off, often much to the chagrin of their parents!

 

I enjoy my barefoot time alone. My wife walked barefoot in the park with me once and I enjoyed sharing the experience of walking on Japanese lawn grass with her barefoot. I hope to repeat the experience with her.

 

Unfortunately I am on my own when going barefoot. That is unless you count others barefoot in shopping centres and the like. It would be great to have a friend that enjoyed the pleasures of going barefoot especially on long walks.
Back when I was younger, in my 20's, I did have a good friend that went barefoot with me as well. We never discussed it but I think he liked the barefoot lifestyle. I think our relationship was close and could have been a lot closer if I hadn't been so shy about my feelings for him
When I go on my long barefoot walks now I do see the occasional other barefoot walker. One that happened recently was another guy walking barefoot towards me, as we passed he said hi and smiled. He was walking in the opposite direction otherwise I think we may well have had a chat as we continued along barefoot!

 

Perhaps you should have stopped and started a conversation with him. He was barefoot like you. You had a perfect reason to start a conversation. The other guy might be wishing for a barefoot walking friend as well. If not him, then maybe the next.
Don’t let shyness stop you. The worse that will happen is a very brief conversation, then you go your separate ways.
I greeted a couple of older men a few days ago and they immediately noticed I was barefoot. They asked if I was soaking up energy from the earth and I said I was. I then said they shoe loose their shoes and socks and get grounded. Funny thing one of them did. I forced myself to engage in a brief conversation them and one other guy a few days earlier that has encouraged me to have more.

 

Yes, I agree! It would have been easier I guess if we were both walking in the same direction. Out for a 10km barefoot walk this coming Sunday so hopefully see him again!

 

Just a thought, not just for you, but myself as well, sometimes we might need to change our direct to accomplish a greater good or goal.