October 9, 2023: Grounding and walking barefoot through the village. Awkward!
October 9, 2023. I woke up at 8:30 a.m. and drove to Borsum. It was raining heavily. After breakfast with my mom, I worked on my website for a bit. I had planned to practice with the Penny board today, but the rain didn't stop. So, I decided to further optimize my website by making it as minimalist as possible. For example, I removed the colored boxes around some clickable elements like "details." Why? With boxes, the text spacing inside the box needs to be adjusted. This spacing takes away space from the content on small screens. That's why I'm ditching colored boxes.
While changing my new email address in the banking app, I also decided to completely disable Siri on my phone. I've only used Siri a few times and can manage well without it.
Today, Eliah, Laura's new boyfriend, stopped by briefly. After having noodles with fried eggs, I later felt like having bread with spread, but there was no bread left. So, I took the opportunity to walk barefoot to the supermarket, which was 750 meters away, at 15 degrees after the rain. Surprisingly, my feet weren't cold. My toes didn't turn white, as they usually do in cold weather. I didn't need to look at the ground and could run just as fast as with shoes, without shouting "ouch." My feet were pretty tough already. Just before the store, a school bus stopped, and the students got off.
"Dude, check this out," I heard from behind. I turned around briefly and saw three guys pointing their phones at me. It was a bit uncomfortable, but then I focused on the here and now, on walking, and forgot about the guys.
In the store, I noticed people just staring at my feet. At the checkout, an old man with a sarcastic grin on his face asked me, "Isn't it cold to walk barefoot?"
"No, not at all," I replied, paid, and went home. I would have liked to say, "Isn't it hot to walk around with a hat?" but I refrained from it.
On the way back, a cyclist overtook me and looked at my feet. Then a woman and a man, both around 50, approached. I greeted them with "Hello," as is customary in the village. They looked somewhat unsure and walked past me without returning my greeting.
On the way home, I wrote down my experiences in my diary: It's amazing how society lives within certain boundaries, the disregard of which is accompanied by many looks, evaluations, and judgments. I love breaking these boundaries. Someone always has to take the first step to make society more tolerant. Eventually, people will get used to barefoot people, and it will become normal.
Then I had some bread with chocolate. To burn off the calories, I practiced a bit on the Penny board in the field and learned to ride straight.
After that, I delved deeper into barefoot walking. I had the idea that the earth has an excess of electrons. If you have an electron deficiency, the earth gives off electrons through contact. I researched further and came across the topic of "grounding" and its effects on the human body. I learned something amazing: Free radicals in the body that cause pain and inflammation are electron-deficient compounds. Grounding helps neutralize the free radicals. I was fascinated. From now on, I'll walk barefoot much more often! If you can't afford vegetables, you should at least walk barefoot on the earth to get free antioxidants.
Then I read the book "Move Your DNA" and came across more interesting ways to improve my body and physical abilities: For example, by using my left hand more often instead of always using the right for everything. Uneven use of both hands leads to asymmetrical tissue strength, which can lead to a range of physical problems.
When the break started, I practiced writing a short text with my left hand using a pen and paper. The penultimate sentence read, "I'm going to brush my teeth with my left hand now." When I stood in the bathroom and started brushing my teeth, I remembered that I actually wanted to brush with my left hand. I looked at myself in the mirror and briefly paused brushing.
"Oh, I'm already brushing with my left hand," I thought. Then I switched to my right hand. And goodness, after a while, brushing became tiring! I could feel my forearm muscles working. Another reason to use a manual toothbrush to train hand muscles through everyday activities. Brushing with the unfamiliar hand also trains the hand-brain connection. Just before the end, as I stretched my leg on the windowsill, I realized that I always have to look in the mirror while brushing my teeth. Without a mirror, it's very unusual. Immediately, I thought of a possible minimalist improvement that would make me even less dependent on material things: Next time I brush my teeth, I won't use a mirror.
Learnings:
- Minimalistic design: Use as few colored boxes around text as possible.
- Regularly use the left instead of the right hand (better hand-brain connection).
- Get used to not using a mirror when brushing teeth. One less dependency.
Micro Changes: