“Why are you walking around delivering beach towels to guest rooms with no shoes on,” I asked. “You should be wearing tennis shoes.” I sounded like an intrusive, overbearing mom.

“We never wear shoes when we service the guest rooms,” said Hallie, the morning concierge of the 12-room Bed and Breakfast known as the Corolla Inn.

“What?” I queried. “That makes no sense to me.”

The Corolla Inn was Sharon’s (the inn's owner) vision, built from the ground up and completed just before COVID in 2019.

Her all-female staff of five overwhelm you with service – from paper towels to bike helmets; to coffee (regular and decaffeinated), to fresh figs from the tree in the yard; to muffins, donuts, and brownies until 9pm every evening.

“But when you walk barefooted, you get calluses. Why do you do this?” I protested to Sharon when I saw her picking figs from the tree in the yard...with no shoes on!

“I grew up in the Outer Banks, helping my parents manage their properties, riding horses and swimming,” Sharon said. “Shoes were often an inconvenience.”

I studied Sharon’s physique – lean and muscular with no belly fat. And she’s 49 years old! Ok. Now I’ve got to dig into this going barefoot thing!

According to orthopedic professionals, walking without shoes can restore the natural pattern of how we walk, improve our balance, our feet's range of motion, and the mechanics of our hips, knees, and even strengthen our core.

And as we age, we need all those benefits!

According to a Forbes article written in October 2011, walking, or working out barefoot have possible benefits like reduced pain and inflammation, improved sleep, decreased stress levels, and enhanced overall well-being.

Even building ankle strength and an improved foot arch helps discourage the development of flat feet (which may later prevent a condition called plantar fasciitis).

Walking barefoot, can even help prevent foot deformities like bunions that happen due to ill-fitted shoes, or claw feet due to wearing shoes that are too large.

Our internal 24-hour biological cycle even improves from going barefoot. That affects our physical, mental, and behavioral changes throughout the day. And that impacts our sleep, our hormones, our body temperature, and our emotions.

I had no idea the direct touch of our bare feet on grass, sand, or dirt facilitated all these good things for our bodies.

Now I feel bad that I castigated Hallie for being barefoot.

I was ignorant.

But I’m never too proud to study, to learn, to grow.

Having a growth mindset, as described by Dr. Carol Dweck in her best-seller, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, is essential for ongoing self-improvement and being relevant in our environment.

Your growth mindset is the reason you’re reading this goal-setting article.

As you tackle a task that gets you closer to achieving one of your goals this week, try accomplishing it barefoot, and reap the extra health benefits!

I’m sitting barefoot (on my big ball) in front of my computer - right now (smile).