Day one of being shoeless!

I am so blessed to live in a country where it’s not the oddest thing to see people walking around without shoes. It is not unusual especially for children to be barefoot at the supermarket or running around in town. Because of that I am hoping this will be a great experience and I won’t feel to odd.

If you know me you know I love to walk around barefoot anyway so I would think this should be quite enjoyable!

Well day one was sure interesting! I decided I was going to go about my normal routine and not worry about shoes. Since it is school break I spent a lot of time around the house so that was a nice relief. It was odd to feed the Chooks and worry about hoping not to step in chook poo. Thankful I did not step in chook poo today! Yay!

Going out to feed the lambs was another story! I had to walk across really sharp rocks to get to them, I walked so slowly and took each step very carefully. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it was going to!

The weird part was going to the shops. I thought I would be so confident as I drove to the shops. I will admit I did put a pair of sandals in my car just in case L When I walked into the first store I felt like all eyes were on my feet. I felt like everyone around me was thinking “why is she not wearing shoes?” “her feet must be so dirty” Thankfully the more I walked around the less awkward I felt. The next shop though felt the same way. I found myself walking down the shoe isle and all of a sudden thought “why am I looking at shoes when I don’t have shoes on my feet?” It was an odd feeling. The weirdest shop was the supermarket. The floor in there was so cold and I felt like everyone was looking at me like I was weird! I saw a few kids without shoes and it made me feel a little more normal. Walking through car parks was also strange just hoping I wouldn’t step on glass.

It was an amazing first day and I was reminded that this must be what it feels like when you don’t have the things we have to meet our needs. I thought of kids that come from families that can’t afford new clothes of Shoes and have to go to school in the torn, dirty clothes they have. They must feel self conscious and thinking everyone is looking at them. I definitely got a better perspective on things today and look forward to what comes next!

 you can read all about shoeless and get more details on my other blog

Shoeless in New Zealand