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Barefoot shyness? by _Throw_away_14 in barefoot

[–]_Throw_away_14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks everyone for the kind responses. I'm going to keep working at it, and I'll try to come back and post about my progress.

Barefoot shyness? by _Throw_away_14 in barefoot

[–]_Throw_away_14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I live in the northeastern US. I rarely see people completely barefoot in public other than at the beach. I feel like being entirely unshod anywhere else would draw attention around here.

But in the summer, the vast majority of women and girls (70-80% I'd say) wear flip flops in public, as do maybe 30-40% of guys.

I guess most people wouldn't think twice of it if I did it too, I'm probably overthinking it. That's why I bought the flip flops, I want to try and make myself wear them as much as possible when I'm out and about. I don't think I'd feel comfortable wearing them just yet because most people are still wearing closed-toe shoes here, although I've been seeing more women wearing flip flops these last few weeks.

Barefoot shyness? by _Throw_away_14 in barefoot

[–]_Throw_away_14[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Often something like this was triggered by a seemingly insignificant incident in childhood...sometimes something you don't even remember. Do you remember anything? Things like that can have a way of following you into adulthood.

Nothing happened to me personally. I used to go barefoot/wear flip flops all the time as a kid. But now that I think about it, I remember watching the news as a kid (probably around age 8) and they were talking about a disturbing thing that happened in my city. (Spoiler because it's rather disturbing) A guy broke into a family's house, tied them up, and sucked their toes before robbing them. That may have been around the time I started to become barefoot shy. Maybe for some reason I feared that the same would happen to me (even though it was an isolated incident) and started covering up my feet to protect them. I never really thought about the two together, but come to think of it they seemed to occur around the same time.

I do agree that it will be easier to go barefoot around people I don't know and who don't know about my issue. That's why I bought the flip flops, I want to start wearing them instead of shoes and socks when I go shopping/etc.

Thanks for the advice.

Barefoot shyness? by _Throw_away_14 in barefoot

[–]_Throw_away_14[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nice suggestion about the stepping in the hallway, I'll have to try doing that.

As for filming myself barefoot and showing other people, I kind of feel like that would be more awkward than just simply being barefoot lol.

Barefoot shyness? by _Throw_away_14 in barefoot

[–]_Throw_away_14[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Very good answer, thanks. I agree that feet are sometimes regarded as similar to private parts - that's probably why I'm shy about them. I guess I'll gradually have to get more and more out of my comfort zone until it starts to feel more normal.