12-23-2024 - My barefooting journey began with much asphalt and concrete, but I needed to step out of the city and experience other surfaces. Something less abrasive, and more... natural. I also wanted to meet up with other barefooters! Hobbit agreed to meet me and suggested Myakka River State Park for a fun little day of barefoot hiking! I grabbed my little carry bag, Rebel T7 camera, a packed lunch, and headed out!
Myakka River State Park is 58 square miles of gorgeous wetlands, sandy paths, and trees. It costs $6 for a single vehicle and rider. There are a few interesting amenities: an observation tower, a food truck with sandwiches, a gift shop, boat tours, and several hiking trails! But there's one thing you won't find: cell service. Trees obfuscate any cell signals, so if you're here with company, I highly recommend walkie-talkies or taking certain protocols beforehand to avoid getting lost. Always stick with your walking buddy. Since my buddy was the only other barefooter, he was easy to find. And so was I!
Wearing the anklets makes me feel like I'm wearing a shoe. But not a horrible foot prison, a shoe that allows me to feel, stand, walk, and bend, and use my muscles properly and account for different surfaces on the ground, and whatever I might walk over. The sand was soft, and honestly, quite perfect! It was Florida dirt sand, soft and cool, slightly damp and enriching. My muscles got a good workout going over uneven terrain, and it was great! The entrance was a little rocky, but past that, the experience was smooth sailing!
I took tons of pictures, focusing on the wonderful textures of nature. Some I plan on selling as prints. If any of you would like a print from this journey, please let me know!
When we took a break, I ate my croissant turkey sandwiches, cookies, and drank some fruit juice. I spoke with Hobbit, about his experience barefooting for 60 years. His soles became tough and leathery, and his toes looked gnarly with massive muscles. It freaked me out! But honestly, his feet looked sure as hell more reliable than most shoes would ever. One thing he mentioned, the parts that contact the ground build toughness, while the arches lifted away can only get tougher by making contact and walking over something. He and I were both seeking something for two very different reasons: natural terrain. He wanted something rougher to build more, I wanted something softer to walk more. We then made our way up the observation tower, crossing the rickety bridge, and saw a massive vista of trees. Yeah, Florida is pretty flat, and it's a lot more obvious from 74 feet up.
Once we were at the new location, I got a pulled pork sandwich and we took a nice photo opp. After that, we walked down a dirt path to the river, and saw tons of amazing wildlife!
"Old Florida" has a serene magical charm to it. The New Florida is full of terrible politics and often terrible people and policies. The economics to live here right now don't make any sense, you can make a lot more money anywhere else, and find much cheaper places to live, with much better governmental services that make living safer for everyone. But this isn't New Florida. I'm just seeing all this beautiful nature, the wind wisping through the pine trees and rustling palm leaves, the water in stillnesss, like a vanity reflecting nature's beauty. Living life with my feet on the ground, feeling all the wonderful sensations, enjoying my day, and then coming face to face with a deer, startled by your presence, staring into your soul, with the same stillness of a lazy Alligator sunbathing, or floating along the water marshes. Birds are more active. They have wings to fly, but enjoy walking, even if it's just a waddle. They like to make splashes in the pool, sometimes exercising, sometimes resting their feet, but always giving their wings a break. The ripples they make touch everyone. You can really feel the Old Florida in places like this, and ignore the problems of the New Florida. This is my home, with all the troubles lifted off my back. If it was possible to eliminate the bad things, I'd rather live no where else on Earth.
After Hobbit left, I took a look at a very little trail by a fishing spot nearby, and redid the canopy walk. Sadly, I couldn't walk over to the other alligator viewing location, but I felt I'd gotten enough pictures of wildlife already. I enjoyed the peace and tranquility of a (mostly) solitary walk. You really do become one with nature. And... nature becomes one with you.
The dirt around the fisherman's area was dark and damp, not the same as the canopy walk or trail near the food truck. While I didn't walk much, they got exceptionally dirty in a short distance. But that cool, damp dirt felt peaceful, and calming. It put me at ease, and helped me relax.
I heard someone online with OCD had trouble overcoming the idea of dirty feet, or stepping barefoot on any surface, even indoors, even after their doctor recommend going barefoot to alleviate a fungal infection. I'm really glad I don't have that issue right now, but other people certainly do. Some barefooter groups I'm in are actively trying to shake off all fetish people from their sites: they want genuine barefooters, and no creepy comments. They don't even allow pictures of feet for this reason, and try to discourage posts with feet in them. What kind of barefooting blog would this be if feet weren't shown? It'd just be... a blog. With words. And no visuals for the experience. My feet here keep a record of what I did. Barefoot walking is something I need to do to be healthy, and dirty feet are something I can't avoid. Since going barefoot, even after showering, some dirt always stays left behind. And it's dangerous for me to try and destroy my skin, which has built up specifically to protect me, in order to give you all a perfectly clean appearance. Sure, I have a fetish, but not for this. I didn't decide after 31 years to go barefoot and take on all this criticism and judgement and hassle from others because "it feels nice." I also personally don't even like all the changes happening to my feet... Honestly... seeing Hobbit's feet, and the changes in my own, freak me out. The path towards tougher feet, stronger muscles, and all the things that allow me to walk pain-free and make my feet function well, that road does not produce the most visually appealing feet... to me, personally. But on this day, I walked 7 miles barefoot, over uneven terrain, and bare nature and trees, all completely free from pain. I've never been able to do that before, or with such confidence. And if I didn't slow him down, he would've been able to do way more, on way rougher surfaces, way faster, and without issue! I got stronger, and more able to walk than ever before. Appearances are very deceiving. Sometimes the worst looking feet really are the best for you. My own desires need to change if I'm ever going to keep and maintain a healthy life, so, I think it's important to, at least once, with every post, show my feet, and what they have done. My blood sugar was great, despite a lot of eating, and my insulin resistance was fixed. That isn't possible without this.
After having lunch (2.1 bolus dose) while my pump stupidly cut basal (black bars on bottom), my sugar was constantly on the rise for an hour and a half (green dots, turning orange above range). The main food dose and additional doses didn't work to bring it down even after half an hour. As soon as I took a walk, the curve finally came down and the numbers started leveling off. Smaller correction doses later were finally able to bring it back down to normal. It's hard to tell whether a dose will be too much or too little, there is very little predictability with Diabetes. But one thing's for certain: insulin always works easier after a little exercise.
Back at home, there's a nice little dirt trail in my neighborhood around the creek where I live. Whenever my sugar goes up, I now have a place I can walk and feel a little bit of Myakka with me. My sugar was on the rise, and the insulin wasn't working. So, I took a nice little barefoot walk, about a couple miles, and saved it from spiraling.
I'd already walked 70 miles over asphalt and concrete and 12 years of minimalist shoes and regular barefoot excursions before this hike. I didn't just decide to take off my shoes one day and walk barefoot in the wilderness. I had a first aid kit on-hand and plenty of snacks, and a buddy just in case any trouble came to me. But now, I can officially say that not only am I a full-time barefooter, I'm also a barefoot hiker, with the ability to walk on surfaces most people who don't have this kind of training, or my feet and gait, could probably injure themselves. I was able to get there without injuring myself because I specifically avoided doing things that were stupid and beyond my limits. But I can now walk barefoot pretty much anywhere without issue. I think about 95% of the different kinds of surfaces I've walked over are totally conquerable for me right now, and I can walk over about 90% of them very comfortably.
I told my supervisor about my experiences. Along with once again getting the "safety" spiel, he also said I should talk with a doctor, to figure out the underlying causes of what's going on in my body, causing pain in shoes. He said "That's not normal." Well, when I was 5 years old, diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, born nearly a month prematurely, and clearly showing neurodivergent characteristics, my doctor said I should be dead. He once again came back at me with that comment when I was 17. Me being alive for 31 years with a dead pancreas for 26 of those, and several chronic conditions and complications on top of that, simply isn't normal. So neither then can my life be lived "normal," no matter how much anyone wishes, including myself. I've learned from a very young age to not wish for what can't be had, accept what conditions have happened to me, and navigate through life despite the pushback and ignorance I receive from others, which sadly includes doctors who think they know better, then recommend lethal doses of insulin, or more stupidly, pump glucose in my IV at a hospital to correct a very normal blood glucose reading of 89 (from about 11% less than usual, it skyrocketed over 500, 5x more than usual, within half an hour). I never developed that ignorance because, to me, I am normal!! The person in my life I know best is myself, and however unusual that life is, it appears completely normal to me. When I told my supervisor the most pain I felt since becoming a barefooter was reaching into my wallet and getting a business card caught under my fingernail, he laughed. But that pain was only felt for a moment. The leg pain I experienced in shoes was prolonged and enduring. I was constantly injuring myself in shoes. But... who gets sued for leg pain? Certainly not shoe manufacturers... well, not ALL shoe manufacturers. Skechers got sued for their claims with the ludicrously shaped "Shape-ups," but then again so was Vibram sued for their Five-Fingers.
For the first time in my life, I found a way I can walk, exercise, and live without pain or suffering... I'll try to find a doctor who can examine me and see if there's an underlying cause that can be treated, cured, or surgically improved. But the moment they refuse me a life as a barefooter, I'm walking out the door. I tried that shoed life for 31 years, and that life only lead to pain and suffering. That life made me sedentary, and it made my insulin stop working. My feet and legs can only take so much injury from shoes. They've taken a beating after 31 years. But since barefooting, my feet and legs have never been injured. Not even once! Those who aren't accommodating, I leave. I'm able to work from home - that's plenty accommodating.
Some people in a barefooter group talk about how standard military boots ruined their feet. They were able to complete their mandatory service in minimalist boots, but not until trying the thick standard boots, first. I can't even imagine the medical trauma from being forced to wear horrible shoes. But that's what happens to us. We are the nonstandard individuals who always get left behind whenever "safety guidelines" are being made. The majority opinion always hurts those who don't fit the standard. People like me.
Someone describing the only 2 experiences they had stepping on broken glass, one with shoes, one barefoot. And they've been a barefooter for 20 years. Shoes caused a slip and fall, but barefooting allowed them to detect it before stepping on it and move on. Many people in these groups report similar experiences, shoes being more dangerous than bare feet. Now that I am walking barefoot, my life is adding to that evidence that footwear is dangerous, and safety protocols ignore all the problems caused by shoes to focus specifically on those few instances shoes may have helped. In most situations, especially for me, shoes do not.
I don't get hurt, I don't get sick, and I don't get injured when I walk barefoot. I've reached into my first aid kit for other people, but never for myself. And now, I'm recalling many times I'd gotten hurt and injured keeping my week, feeble feet trapped in socks and shoes, making them even weaker and even more feeble and even more prone to sores, and cuts, and injury. People might not agree with what I'm doing now, but it's already become so clearly and painfully obvious that this is what works best for me. And not just me: so many others as well. Anthony Padilla interviewed a bunch of barefooters and asked them to walk on Legos, like it was some fiery death challenge. None of them had a problem, all of them actually liked the experience, even jumping up and down on it. Most people would say that's not normal, and that's true! They are different, and so am I.
For a few hours this day, being one with nature, without any bullies telling me I belong in a mental institution, without any people ignoring my issues and forcing me to be in pain under the guise "it's for my own safety," or hurting me for being different... without any of that, I was home.
I got back in my car and drove across State Road 70. My cell phone came back online. I tuned Spotify into some Afropop music and returned to society. I write this now, shedding a tear, knowing the world accepts me more than society ever would. It wasn't a sin against nature to walk over it in bare feet. The world has no policy against me or anything I need to do to live. It was fine with my life. None of the animals were disgusted by my presence, even though, as a human, they had every right to be. Perhaps this, too, is one more reason I am a Furry. Animals have always allowed me to live. But most people do not.
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