Mental Health Benefits of Taking Your Shoes Off

Summer is here, whether the temperatures are climbing in your area yet or not.  It’s been a bit slow to arrive here in the Midwest this year, but the flowers are starting to bloom. 

Therapy often gets put on the backburner during summer in the Midwest, and sometimes for good reasons.  It’s not always about being too busy trying to squeeze in all of the vacations and time outside we can, but it’s also because there are so many ways to improve our mood and increase our joy through being outside and seeing more sunshine.

Most people are not intentionally trying to improve their mental health in the summer, it’s just a lucky side effect we get to benefit from.  However, if you are looking for clues of what else improves our mood besides the sun, look down to the ground.  Having our bare feet directly on the grass or in the sand connects us to the Earth’s energy and has been shown to have a calming effect which can decrease anxiety and improve our mood.  (If you find this concept interesting, you can research “grounding” or “earthing” to learn more about its health benefits.)

The best wellness tips I find are those that are easy to implement into things you do already.  So, think about the times you are already in the yard that you could easily take off your shoes, whether that’s gardening, sitting by a fire, walking to the mailbox, or in my case, puppy-poop-scooping every morning.  I figure it’s easier to wash my feet than my shoes if I step in anything, ha! 

If you are looking for more support for your mental wellness, go to our website at cftc-online.com, or reach out to our office at 715-441-1828.

Written by: Cindy Grajkowski, MS Ed, LMFT