Hello, Steemit people!
It's been awhile since I posted, but I thought I'd dip my toe back in the Steemit pond with a blog entry about my barefooting 👣
Refusing to let the 'geo-engineered' sky get me down on my daily early morning walk
I've spent the last 10+ years barefooting through 3+ seasons in the UK, having started due to major circulatory problems. My mother had a lifelong history of suffering from chilblains and during the winter of 2006 (a few months after she died), I suddenly (spookily!) began having similar problems. It was really very scary - parts of my toes and soles would go white and completely lose sensation. When they came back to life they'd be painfully swollen and red, turning black and purple like bruising. I don't do doctors, but I tried all kinds of alternative, holistic treatments, and various approaches to dealing with it. Nothing worked. I was afraid I was going to lose one of my toes at one point - it was THAT bad!
A photo of my feet in 2006, a few months before started barefooting - you'll see how they've changed in a minute!
One day my Dad was visiting with us and he was having a grumble about us using bean bags instead of furniture as he couldn't get up off the floor once he'd sat down. As I was helping to pull him upright, saying, "Use it or lose it, Dad!", I had a major epiphany: I was going about rehabilitating my feet all wrong! I was babying them, whereas what I really needed to do was toughen them up, strengthen them! That very day I started going barefoot in the house, and gradually worked up by going out without shoes in the garden and then further afield, a little bit at a time. Doing so has been a revelation! Not only have my feet recovered and become healthy and strong like never before, it's also strengthened my whole body and eradicated the problems I'd been having with water retention around my ankles and calves.
I'm in my 11th year of barefooting and I made it through my first winter almost entirely barefoot this last winter, even venturing out in the snow - my feet just keep getting stronger and happier! My legs are starting to join in now - the last few months I've taken to wearing shorts quite a bit and always having at least my ankles exposed. I find that recently my feet have become much more intelligent and useful, presenting themselves as tools in many situations. It's like after ten years they're finally really coming back to life and remembering their original purpose!
Giving life 'toe thumbs up'!
Quite honestly, I find pretty much everything about being barefoot fascinating. I opened an Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/born_barefoot) just for my barefoot daily adventures recently and I've been inundated with messages from all kinds of foot-crazy people. Many of them are people with similar stories to tell, looking for advice or just making contact with a fellow nelipot. But there's also a seedy underside (undersole?) to the shoe-free world that has shocked and surprised me. Each to their own, but it makes me sad that people are so far removed from healthy thinking that even feet are subjected to fetishist fantasising. I've taken to attempting to lead them in the direction of a healthy attitude towards feet, but I have a three strikes and they're out (blocked!) policy ;o)
Well, feel free to ask me anything you like about the joys of being barefoot - or tell me about your own free-footed adventures!
With love,
Jay
Some photos from the last year or two -
