Why we fail at promoting barefoot life

I see all these articles describing how great it is to go barefoot and how shoes wreck your feet but problem is in the beginning going barefoot kinda sucks.

They never mention it takes a little bit of training or relearning and adapting to be able to navigate the world barefoot after a lifetime of wearing shoes every waking moment.

I started going barefoot after reading those barefoot running articles they put out to sell minimalist shoes just to see if I could actually get to the point I could run down the street barefoot without discomfort.

You don't just take off your shoes and be like this is great.

What I did not know is that after learning to do the world barefoot I would then hate wearing shoes but its not the same when I go barefoot I am not all that aware of even being barefoot, nothing like in the beginning.

 

Marketing.
People respond to marketing.
Companies spend literal fortunes on marketing.
Add an ounce of ignorance and we have a problem we cannot solve.

 

Going barefoot is wonderful, but it DOES require training, just like developing a sports skill--running, hiking, etc. Stage I: Leg muscles need RE-orientation from the weight of shoes and the footstrike posture that shoes encourage: heel first, forefoot second. In barefooting, the precise opposite occurs: forefoot first (like a flashlight searching for danger spots), then the heel follows. I remember a couple months of calf pain (muscle discomfort) when I began fuller-time barefooting (weekends and evenings). That was a sign of realignment/walk pattern change. Because of the newly felt sensations of bare skin on the ground, I kept at it to get to Stage ll: toughening the soles. That takes time. To go barefoot successfully, you have to go barefoot often so your sole skin develops callouses to prevent harm from harsher surfaces: raised pebbles in sidewalk blocks, sticks, sharp objects, acorns in Autumn, and the like. You have to accomodate to your environment; the opposite never happens. This can take weeks to months ("gotta go barefoot, gotta go barefoot"). What seems like a plunge into fantastic sensations is really a turn into a NEW MANNER OF WALKING! Yes, it feels great, but it is a LEARNED SKILL! I've been barefooting for 20-some years and only recently have become really adept. People who do NOT barefoot do not know any of this. You cannot know the muscular development required of a professional swimmer unless you SWIM! It just does not happen.

 

A lot of people think that going barefoot is gross and that being barefoot in public is not right . And being barefoot in public places is against health code in stores and restaurants and other places but there’s no health code at stores and other places and management makes up the rules . And management get people making complaints about barefoot people. We don’t use are bare feet to eat food we use or bare feet to walk not to eat with. And some people just don’t like seeing bare feet they think it’s wrong and feet should have shoes so nobody can see their bare feet or toes. And people make a big deal about shoes and the company that make the shoes say we need them and that they do not harm our feet and that we need to buy the shoes to stay with the times and the styles these days. And the going barefoot is not they style anymore. Wearing high prices shoes is the style now days. I love my barefoot lifestyle and will never change my barefoot lifestyle for anything not even for one million dollars.