Daniel Holden Smith
August 12, 2025
The Bliss of Barefeet in a Banal World
Daniel Holden Smith
8.07.25
The term “raw-dogging” has become quite a favorite in pop culture. A phrase rooted in acts of unprotected intimacy, raw-dogging has evolved into an expression that describes experiencing aspects of life without socially conditioned tools or buffers.
For example, folks nowadays are “raw-dogging” air travel. That is, sitting through a flight with no music, naps, movies, or books. Just, raw-dogged existence. How brave!
Now imagine you’re out to eat with some friends. Andre — your hypothetical vegan friend — orders a salad (classic Andre!). This is to be expected, and you’ve gotten over the guilt feelings this used to bring up in your burger loving brain. While being served your meals, you notice Andre has this crazed look in his eye (just the one eye, Andre lost the other in a fishing accident as a kid. It’s part of the reason he’s a vegan).
And as you equip your bison burger into delicate and intentional hands, you notice Andre massaging his salad with equally intentional, yet far more aggressive ones. “This is odd”, you think. One is expected to eat salad with cutlery! He then takes a wad of lettuce between his pointer, thumb, and middle fingers, and wraps it round some onion and cherry tomato. Then, he shovels the wrap into his mouth.
“Oh my god” you say to the table, “Andre is raw-dogging his salad!”
And I know what you’re thinking — “how’d Andre lose an eye while fishing?” Well it’s not what you’d expect. No fishhooks were involved. But that’s another story.
The point is, raw-dogging is a cultural phenomena which highlights our deep-rooted desire to return to a more natural and authentic way of being.
*I should further note, the word “dogs” is now also synonymous with bare feet. Such as, “woaaahh, it’s mid winter and Fred’s got the doooogs out!”
And now, we arrive at the moment which spurred me to sit down and write all this nonsense!
The other day, one of my soccer players noticed I’d taken my shoes and socks off well before practice had ended (when it becomes more socially permissable). He said to me, “Coach, are you raw-dogging …?” then trailed off for reasons I can’t be certain about. But here are some guesses:
- this was his first day meeting me, and using the term ‘raw-dogging’ toward an adult while
looking at his bare feet went beyond his social comfort zone. - he realized how silly it was to make a fuss over a human (an animal) having skin to grass
contact out in public. - as he began speaking, he realized just how uncomfortable his sweaty cleats were, and wished to
shed them as well.
I smiled, expecting such an observation to occur. I then instructed everyone else to free themselves of their podiatry prisons and line up for a race. Of course, there was a murmur of “huh?” among the players. But just then! An audible wave of relief. The lads were reminded of how freeing it is to grip grass and grime with their bare toes. To feel a breeze and flexible ease of motion.
We then had a high skip race! Followed by a strange spinning one. Both were completed without the burden of shoes. And still, good ole fashioned fun was had all ’round!
***
Today, walking barefoot is both a fulfilling, and radically intimate mundane act. And yes, I mean radical! Rebellious! A middle toe flipped up to The Man! (Because it means that you’re willing to go outside on hostile terrain (prickly pavement), without $120 of ‘comfort’ on your feet!)
Humans now live with many barriers between our bodies and the natural environment. The interactions we have with undeveloped nature are often designed rather than incidental. A hike, a camping trip, an excursion! Otherwise, we are feet on top of shoes on top of pavement on top of tunnels, between billboards, and beneath umbrellas and wires and roofs.
In nature and with each other, we are in a crisis of feeling. Specifically, there is a distancing between ourselves and our feelings, both internal and external.
***
Today, in the holistic healthsphere, it is said that one should practice “grounding”. This is a fancy word for: touch your bare feet to dirt. Why? Because it’s “grounding!” Grounding.
We are so far removed from existing as part of natural places that we have a word for doing the thing every other thing does, naturally. I would wager that birds touch their toes to dirt more often than the modern western human.
So why does this matter?
Well, in case you’ve missed it, there’s some crazy things happening on Earth right now. Each year, we make a bet with God that we can put more trash in the ocean than He can put sea creatures. Also, the Earth is hotter every passing year, and the oceans are like “that land looks delicious!” In other words, God wins the bet by making all the lands wet! (we die). Also, endangered species are dying in droves. Also, the bees are like, “guys, what the f**k?” Also, ⅓ of all food is wasted. Also, agriculturally viable land is shrinking. Also, uhhhhh. I mean, like… we’re kinda pissing the bed here!
So what do we do!? Good question. Lot’s of clever people have lots of different propositions. If you’re asking ME? I think all that aforementioned stuff about us not touching grass has more to do with it than we think.
As people, our capacity to care is limited. While we might have easy access to every problem everywhere all at once, we simply cannot keep up. Wars, ecological destruction, corporate greed, government overreach, social inequality, family trauma, starvation, mental health crises…take your pick! If everything is burning all at once, where do we dump our water?
Well, I say take your shoes off, and go for a walk!
Feel the music of textures as you walk across our land. From home flooring, to decaying front porch, to stone walkway, to paved driveway, to smooth sidewalk edge, and the inevitable patch of grass. Ahhhh, how nice! How nice grass becomes when it is surrounded by sharp and gritty gravelly gunk. An oasis in a stone desert. A tropical island in a bottomless ocean of roughness. A bounty ultrasoft double ply wipe after being subjected to single ply sandpaper! Praise to the Heavens!!
We have shielded our feet and feelings from the Earth long enough, and we’ve forgotten the comfort of a soft soily embrace. Life could be a highway, but that’s tough on the toes. Life is a footpath, surrounded by sights and sounds and things that grow. The only growth on a highway is more lanes and tolls and bridges. Wider, more capacity, more speed. No place for you and me and what we all need: tenderness, touch, feeling immersed in our spaces. Life is also a stroll, so let yourself imagine it beyond petty races.
Give yourself some grace, and grounding. If we all raw-dogged through space, perhaps we’d wear more joy on our face and realize that where I’m standing is astounding.
References
Food Waste Solutions & Statistics - Reducing Food Waste in the U.S. https://refed.org/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.