Please note that this is not a diatribe about how great going barefoot is, nor is it a slight to those people who prefer shoes. I wish the best for everyone, no matter how you are shod.
When we lived in San Diego, I went barefoot a lot. First off, the weather was fantastic, so my feet never got cold. Secondly, I worked at home, and being something of a homebody, I didn't leave the house for days at a time. Consequently, I didn't wear shoes for days at a time.
Fast forward to the Portland life, and for the past few summers, I've gone barefoot as much as possible. I used to commute downtown on my bike and so while I wore clip-in bike shoes for the ride, I would go barefoot during the day in the office, and generally got by being barefoot for any errands I had to do while at work. During the winter months, I would only wear thick woolly socks at the office.
I'm back to working at home now, and I'm taking a cue from Lily, who simply doesn't like shoes. As soon as we're done with a trip some place, she takes her shoes off, no matter if it's winter or summer. I joke with her that she's wearing her "hobbit shoes" whenever she's barefoot.
And in a natural extension to the unschooling philosophy, I've been questioning the "norm" of wearing shoes at all. Lily frequently goes out on errands without wearing any shoes. No one has ever stopped me (or her) to ask us to put on our shoes. We do, however, wear shoes in restaurants and grocery stores because I know the proprietors can get fined should any customers be shoeless.
All this time, I had some nagging suspicion that going barefoot is "better", in the same way that eating organic foods is "better" and getting enough sleep is "better". I've just not been exposed to any one who espouses the better-ness of going barefoot.
So I've been going barefoot a lot this spring and summer. Much of my gardening has been barefoot (except when I'm digging and spading, for which I use my feet to push on shovels). All of my work days at home have been barefoot. I've always slept barefoot. And I'm finding myself going barefoot alongside Lily at various other times: On walks around the block, on errands and picking berries. When I'm not barefoot, I'm wearing flip-flops which let me go from barefoot to shod depending on the terrain.
I'm also a runner, and I came across a new shoe called the Nike Free, which is supposed to emulate barefoot running. Further Googling led me to this article from New York Magazine, titled "You Walk Wrong", which has pushed me over the top. I'm now striving to go barefoot.
Of course it helps that we're going to be installed a radiant floor heating system before this winter comes around :)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
"You Walk Wrong" (Or, "Why I Go Barefoot")
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2 comments:
I don't like to wear shoes either...going barefoot on that office floor was hazardous sometimes ;)
If I have to step out and need shoes, I have a pair of crocs that are the next best thing. I took off the straps so they can go on and off super fast.
Oh no, not another one. So much misinformation about going barefoot! How do you "know" that grocery stores will get "fined" if you go barefoot there? By whom? And why? Who told you that? "They" apparently "just know"...
NOT TRUE. There are no state level laws regarding going barefoot anywhere by customers of any establishment. If you are too young to remember the late 1960s and early 1970s, are you aware that going barefoot everywhere was quite common for young adults? It was a fad that the hippies started in the late 1960s, but by the early 1970s it hit the mainstream, and it was a common sight to see people shopping barefoot in malls, supermarkets, any public place like parks, museums, any public gathering on a nice summer day. Though it was a lot more women doing it than men. The signs saying "no bare feet", or "shirts and shoes required" started for purely political reasons - store owners did not want people who were against the Vietnam War to come into their stores. Such "unpatriotic" types were not welcome, and it was easier to put up fake signs blaming "board of health" or some other fake "law" than to directly admit the real reason. When going barefoot went out of style in the 1980s, the signs remained, but the excuse changed to "liability" reasons. You can go barefoot just about anywhere and most places do not care. Sure, you may run into some ignorant store owner who will kick you out, since it is his private property and he can do as he wishes, but for the most part no one says anything. You have already figured out that shoes are really not needed, that you can gradually get used to going barefoot to the point where you can safely do it almost anywhere, so not try adding a new dimension of sensation to your life - try some barefoot shopping. Make an otherwise dull trip into a sensory one, feel the cool tile floors change temperature in the frozen food areas, feel the different floor textures in different stores, different parts of town, etc. You don't wear blinders, ear plugs, nose clips or gloves, right? Then why cut off sensation with those dumb flip flops everyone is wearing?
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