Anton Nootenboom aka the ‘Dutch Forrest Gump is not your typical fitness influencer. In 2019, he became the first and only person to complete the 80-mile round-trip hike to Mount Everest Base Camp without footwear. Two years later, he set the 2021 Guinness World Record for the longest barefoot journey by hiking 1,875 miles along the Australian coast. He now plans to break the record by walking 3,000 miles barefoot from Los Angeles to New York City.
“It sounds crazy,” Nootenboom told Yahoo News on the sixth day of his eight-month journey, which started on February 17. When over 30 people joined him on the first mile of his trek in Santa Monica, California, he even referred to himself as the ‘Dutch Forrest Gump’. The walk is part of the #BraveMenTalk campaign, which, in collaboration with Barebarics barefoot shoes, raises awareness about male mental health worldwide and funds charities.
Who is Anton Nootenboom?
For Nootenboom, who served in the Dutch army for ten years and completed three tours in the Middle East, it represents the psychological battles that many men face in silence.
“The roads are tough and every day is full of surprises,” he said. “I tell myself, ‘It’s just a phase. This road will end, and someday the road will be a little better.’ It’s the same in life: When things get tough, it’s never the end. It’s just a bit of a stretch, and eventually you come out of it. I have wounds on my feet, and they hurt, but I know the skin will grow back tougher than it was before. That’s what gives me hope.”
As he travels across America’s deserts, mountains, and valleys to reach the Big Apple, Nootenboom will make stops in various cities to provide educational tools and resources to local communities. He wants to encourage men of all ages to “not be afraid to tell your story.”
That was a hard lesson for him to learn on his own. After leaving the army in 2015, Nootenboom fell into a deep depression and never felt comfortable discussing it with anyone. The isolation drove him to nearly commit suicide on the edge of a cliff in Australia, where he was living at the time. The incident prompted him to seek help.
“Being raised by the army to say, ‘Don’t cry, man up!’ I didn’t feel safe talking about what was going on with me,” he shared. “With a lot of resistance, I took the offer of getting help and doing things way out of my comfort zone,” which included therapy and meditation practices.
“The pain is worth it for me,” he said of the mission. “I want this challenge to speak to men, and say, ‘Whatever life throws at you, physically and mentally, you can get through it.’”
Over 6 million men suffer from depression each year
Nootenboom is not alone. According to data from Mental Health America, over 6 million men suffer from depression each year, with the majority going untreated. This has grave consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is nearly four times more common in men than in women, with 39,255 male suicides in 2022 compared to 9,825 female suicides in the same year.
According to experts, men with depression are significantly underreported due to various stigmas and cultural norms that discourage them from seeking treatment.
“Men are socialized to suppress their emotions, and the only acceptable emotions are anger and frustration,” said Ernesto Lira de la Rosa, a psychologist with the Hope for Depression Research Foundation. “This makes it challenging for men to openly talk about their feelings out of fear that they are not strong or that something is wrong with them.”
He went on to say: “If we encourage other men to speak about their mental health, this will validate and normalize that mental health is a part of everyone’s lives, including men.”
Nicholas Balaisis, a Toronto-based psychotherapist, applauds Nootenboom for incorporating physical activity into the discussion.
All about the Dutch Forrest Gump
“After I went through some healing, I learned that I wasn’t alone in my feelings,” said Nootenboom. “If there’s something I learned in the army, it’s to lead by example. I wanted to share my own story in the hopes that it creates a safe space for others to be like, ‘Hey, if you can do it, then I can do it.”‘
During the day, Nootenboom walks barefoot with a trolley cart nicknamed “Bubba,” a reference to a character in Tom Hanks’ 1994 film Forrest Gump, about a man who gains a cult following by running across the country. At night, he sleeps in one of two campers driven by campaign producers who are tracking his progress across America.
Nootenboom chooses to “only look forward,” despite the hills and valleys ahead. Even when it appears impossible, he hopes to encourage others to never “give up when there are obstacles in your path.”
“I’m looking at a mountain with snowy peaks, and I know I’m walking around those. At some point, I’m going to the Rocky Mountains and I’ll have to face them too,” he explained. “It’s going to be painful, it’s going to be challenging, but at the end of the day, you’re one day closer to reaching your target.”