"Mark my words, Michael. Someday you are going to get seriously hurt."
This person shared with me that they seriously hurt their foot when they were younger because they weren't wearing shoes. I hear this a LOT.
I can't tell you how many times someone's told me, "I don't go barefoot because I ______ my foot by ______ when I was a kid." For the first blank space you could insert the words hurt, cut, broke, punctured, burned or one of many others. The second space could be completed with stepping on a bee, stepping on a nail, stepping on a knife, stepping on a rock, pouring boiling water on it, running into a wall or something equally traumatic and painful.To these sentiments, my response is always the same by sharing my own stories. I, Barefoot Michael, stepped on a bee at a swimming pool AND punctured my foot by stepping on a nail when I was kid. So, I know it sucks. I know it's not fun. But you know what? I recovered.
I reminded this acquaintance that if we hurt our hands we don't just start wearing gloves all the time. I might point out, at this time, that I have seriously hurt my hands a few times in my life:
- I cut a finger with a razor blade as a child and have a scar to prove it.
- I got a few fingers smashed in a door jam as a kid because I wasn't paying attention.
- I burned some fingers in college by grabbing a hot lid off the oven.
- I burned fingers a couple years ago on a bundle of firecrackers with a lively wick.
I use an abundance of caution when I go barefooted. I keep an eye out on the ground while I walk. I avoid things on which I could catch or stub a toe. I try not to walk barefooted in places where it would be easy to get hurt. Lastly, I am careful about the possibility of heavy objects falling on or rolling over my feet. But, taking all that into account, I could still get hurt. Accidents happen.
To me, the benefits of going barefooted FAR outweigh the risks. The comfort and health benefits of going barefooted are something that I deeply desire for my feet. If that means that I introduce a little more risk into my life, then so be it.
Thanks for reading! I welcome your comments below.
Drawing from: University of South Florida
Since taking my shoes off over 7 months ago, I've hurt myself more on the few occasions I wore shoes than the entire rest of that time I was barefoot. The awareness gained has made me more sure footed and less clumsy, so I feel safer without shoes in a lot of cases. On stairs in particular.
ReplyDeleteTell people the following:
ReplyDeleteIf there are a bunch of kids playing football in the park, should you go over to them and tell them that is not a good idea, that too many people have been injured, often permanently from doing that? And then give them statistics about how many died playing such a rough sport? What is the first thing that happens when someone gets injured playing sports? They can't wait for the injury to heal so they can go back to playing their favorite sport. How about skiing? Don't do that, too dangerous....What about someone using power tools, constrution tools, etc, do you warn them how that is too dangerous, telling them how badly you were hurt once, or that you know someone who lost a finger doing that? And when the injury happens do they never use power tools again? Please. Enough said.
I prefer being barefoot and have been wondering if it isn't smarter to spend more time living without shoes than with.
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