‘Biggest fever dream of my life’: Man meditating in park opens his eyes to find his shoes have been stolen

Meditation is supposed to bring peace, but for one man on TikTok it brought a whole load of stress after a sneaky thief was able to creep up to him while his eyes were closed and literally steal his shoes.

Daniel, AKA “gingernutkin” explained that he had walked to a park in London to meditate and do some breath work. Given the stresses of modern day life that sounds like a pretty good idea. Anyways, Daniel felt it would be better if he removed his shoes, “I felt like the shoes were suffocating me,” but unfortunately there are opportunists out there who will always take advantage of unsuspecting people.

Upon coming out of his meditative trance, Daniel’s Adidas shoes were nowhere to be found, leaving him stranded in a park a good 30 minutes from his home. Pulling out his phone to document his bizarre experience, that’s where his journey begins.

Shoes are overrated anyway

Clearly whatever meditation Daniel was doing, it worked, as he must have been so at peace that he somehow didn’t notice his shoes being stolen. “Were you meditating or unconscious?” asked one person. Another added, “You told the universe that your shoes were suffocating you and the universe said “I’ve got you.””

Buddhism teaches that attachment to the material world is what leads to suffering, so perhaps Daniel’s shoes being taken away was a way of the universe helping him out. Or maybe it is a sign that he’s on the correct path to enlightenment. Could there be some sort of divine lesson to be learnt here? Or is this all just overly positive thinking?

Either way, Daniel had to figure out a way home without his shoes anymore. After asking some strangers in the park if they had seen anyone walking away with his shoes (they hadn’t) he begins his long walk back. Recording himself walking through the park he’s able to mostly keep his spirits high, addressing the thief (in case they see the video), telling them “jokes on you, I bought those second hand so now you have third hand shoes, that’s stinky and cheap, that’s disgusting.”

London can be a weird place but Daniel admits that after two years of hearing about thieves in the city this is the first time anything like this has happened to him. Some viewers doubted that the shoes were actually stolen, asking, “You sure you didn’t misplace them[?]” although you’d think he’d know where his own shoes are.

Eventually the walk gets to be too much and Daniel calls for a friend to bring him some shoes. He meets them in the park ending the traumatic saga but giving us a pretty funny video to watch at his expense.