The Barefoot Dutchman Puts his Body on the Line for Gotcha4Life

Why did a 34-year-old Dutchman decide to walk 2,417km barefoot?

Anton Nootenboom says that walking barefoot is a good way to draw attention to worthy causes. 

He is the first person to have ever walked to base camp on Mount Everest barefoot. 

He is also the first person to have ever walked from Cairns to Manly barefoot. 

This, his most recent walk, was to raise awareness around men’s mental health issues.

Why?

Because a few years ago, Anton found himself in a desperately dark and lonely place. He’d been through a crushing break up, he was in serious debt and his visa conditions in Australia meant that he could only work in certain kinds of jobs.

This former soldier - who had done three tours of Afghanistan - found himself living in a hostel dorm with six other people and working on a construction site. He said that he had no sense of purpose, felt as though he had lost his identity and was stuck working in a job he hated because of his financial troubles.

His only relief during that time was going down to Manly Beach and walking barefoot. One day, he walked up and down the beach for seven hours. 

He couldn’t see a way out of his situation until he met with a spiritual advisor who guided him towards mindfulness and meditation. This was the light at the end of the tunnel he had been waiting for. 

He went through an awakening of sorts. Anton says, “I was walking on the beach one day when I had a lightbulb moment. I felt the driving urge to make a change, which led to me start  going on extreme barefoot walks to make a difference.”

During his time in the army and in the construction industry, Anton saw first-hand the mental health challenges presented by ‘masculine’ work environments. This, combined with his own experiences, is why Anton chose to support men’s mental health causes with his latest quest.

While he says that there were days when his feet were so bruised that he could barely make 8kms, Anton maintains that ‘the body goes where the mind goes’. He also says that while his feet looked OK on the outside, they were agonisingly painful on the inside. He sees this as a neat metaphor for the challenges around mental health.

Anton donated the proceeds of his Cairns to Manly walk to Gotcha4Life, as well as two charities in the Netherlands that assist returned servicemen. 

To find out more about The Barefoot Dutchman, click here.