7 tips and trivia to encourage you to go barefoot this summer
You learn a lot when you are barefoot. The first thing is every step you take is different.~Michael Franti, American musician.
Lately, I’ve become obsessed with little-known holidays like “Go Barefoot Day.” This is a global holiday, launched by the non-profit Soles4Souls after a 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean killing at least 225,000 people, to get new and used shoes donated to victims of natural disasters, and later for underprivileged children. Over 19 million shoes have been donated worldwide since 2005. That’s amazing.
Why am I writing about this? I think academics in particular need a little time to slow down in the summer and enjoy their time. We all have different agendas: rethinking our life aspirations, spending more time with family, writing something we are truly interested in, getting rid of clutter by cleaning up offices, and just having a little more time for fun. For me, living as I do near a shoreline, means walking on the beach early in the morning or toward dusk.
Going barefoot is good for your body and your brain
I always kick off my sandals at the end of the beach access points and head out onto the sand directly. Early in the morning, it is coolish on my feet; if I wait till later in the day, the sand can still be hot enough to make you get to the water as fast as possible. Getting my feet into the sand and spreading my toes is literally grounding for me. Looking out at the wide horizon’s grander view also helps with keeping all those daily annoyances in perspective. Including the traffic to and from the beach. It’s worth the time.
To go barefoot is liberating for the mind and body. Wandering up and down the shore, watching the royal terns and seagulls, listening to their harsh calls, looking out over the waves to see bottlenose dolphins at play, and further out the shrimp trawlers playing the waters, allows the mind to wander as well. I never know what ideas will spring up when I do something like this. I love getting out of my shoes even if I am wearing “flip-flops” for my flat feet. And in winter, getting out of closed toes shoes is truly delightful.
I’ve written many times about the need to take a break when you are working on something requiring mental effort. I’ve worked hard to make sure both myself and my clients understand taking a break is something productive for the brain. You can’t write more than four hours in a stretch and still expect to make sense. Brains just don’t work that way. When one organ, your brain, consumes 25-30% of all the glucose your body needs, you begin to understand just how energy-intensive thinking work can be. It also explains the old saying, “Thinking is hungry work.”
The brain’s capacity to store fuel is limited. So do yourself a favor and take some time to refuel. Not necessarily by eating immediately, maybe by taking a walk first, or having a cup of tea, so you don’t just cram whatever is handy into your mouth and feel worse. This lets your brain (and body) know you aren’t going to starve it. Strenuous muscle activity of any sort also serves to increase both glucose and lactate (a byproduct of intense muscle contractions) to keep the brain and body healthy.
Some suggestions around going barefoot
1. Go barefoot on a walk
You’ll have to choose where to do this. As I said above, beaches are great. If you live in a city, you may have to find a park that lets you walk on the grass.
2. Give away some shoes
Although it is just passed since the holiday falls on June 1st, there is no time limit on charitable giving, and shoes can be an easy giveaway. Look in your closet and get rid of all those shoes you don’t wear anymore. Too uncomfortable to wear to class? Too dressy if you have given up teaching in business suits?
3. Get your kids to donate old shoes, too
My kids used to love giving away things they no longer wanted or used to “someone you may not know who could love this.” It made them feel very grown up to make such decisions. Plus, we had fun doing it.
4. Host a shoe drive
Ask your school, camp, or daycare if they would be willing to host a shoe drive. Soles4Souls has a search engine to find collection points, and Zappos will ship up to 50 pounds for free.
5. Clean up your office in bare feet
Sounds weird, but just being in your regular space without shoes can make you more aware of what’s happening for you. Be careful of those dropped tacks or staples!
6. Create happy feet art
Squishing paint onto paper is another great way to get in touch with your senses and let your brain take time off to play. This can also be a great family activity if that’s one of your summer priorities. Plus, you can let kids create a footprint of how big they are now for safe keeping.
7. Share some trivia about footwear:
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- The oldest known example of a cow-hide leather shoe dated approximately 5,500 years old was discovered by archaeologists in Armenia.
- Nearly 500 years ago, some Europeans wore six-inch heels to signify their upper-class status.
- In 1837, Queen Victoria wore the first known boots for women created by Joseph Sparks Hall.
- The first rubber-soled shoes were made in 1876 in England; they were dubbed “sneakers” by an American advertising agent in 1917, who thought the stealth aspect of quiet shoes could be a selling point.
- Jan Ernst Matzeliger, a Black inventor, got a patent in 1883 to pull the top part of the shoe over the sole with a machine and created “the lasting machine” producing 700 pairs of shoes per day at half the normal cost, making footwear accessible to everyone.
- The average American woman owns 21 pairs of shoes.
- Neil Armstrong’s moon boots are still on the moon; he left them to compensate for the additional weight brought back by collecting moon rocks.
What do you want to do with your precious summertime? Maybe spend some time barefoot for all the right reasons!
Still need help to wind down over the summer. Schedule a 20-minute complimentary call with Hillary.
Tags: academia, academic, attitude, becoming yourself, dream, gratitude, happiness, letting go, play
