Is being a nudist hard work and if it is - should it be?

So I’m back (again). We won’t say how long it’s been but it isn’t rocket science to look at the last entry and see that it has been some time. I started to think why I’ve been absent and came up with a few answers:

I sold a house
I moved into an apartment
I bought another house
I started to rebuild the house (it’s a dump)
A new position at work
My company was then acquired
That company was acquired


All told it’s been a busy year but I had to think - how did all of what transpired in that time take precedence over my pursuit of a naked lifestyle? In that time everything else I was focused on, all of the daily and weekly events, all of the mundane and not-so-mundane tasks pushed my wanting to be nude alone, to be naked with others, and my investigation of social nudism right out the window.


I began to think that nudism in some respects is hard work; we all have to overcome aspects of who and what we are. I suffer from periods of self-loathing and that restricts my social nudism and believe it or not I have an extremely difficult time making and keeping friends (always my fault, not theirs), which stunts my ability to sometimes reach out and meet others willing to share and create old and new experiences. Dusting and grocery shopping, bills and homework, landscaping, birthdays, the dentist, they all forced my private and social naked experiences into the boxes with all of the crap I’ve moved twice over the past two years.


I logged in today and see people on the internet sharing experiences in being naked, living freely - those who have the time and conviction in posting video interviews relaying their convictions on nudity, sharing little blurbs of what it’s like to walk down the street naked in San Francisco, or just those who invite us to an overview of their home nudism and welcome us briefly into a world that seems so easy and innocent and unscripted - just the way it should be.


I have to stop making this so difficult on myself and in some way I need to make this less of an event and more of an everyday part of my life; as simple and routine as brushing my teeth or making sure the garbage is down at the curb every Thursday. These days it actually seems easier for me to get dressed for the day than it does for me to be naked and that is wrong - yes weather and work and feeling like a pudgy 50-year old all take toll, but when you add it all up these are all just excuses and they need to be dealt with.


Over the next couple of weeks I hope to sort this all out again. It’s getting warmer in Denver and I’m demolishing my basement; if anyone wants to do a little naked demo let me know, it’ll help to break this nasty trend I’ve been in.


Oh -are there any naked Heating and Cooling experts out there?

Nude beach trepidation - damn, again?

I’ve been through this before; the minute I book a vacation (and all vacations over the past 5-6 years have been nude vacations), there’s a feeling of anxiety that takes over. No sooner have I clicked on that Expedia button to confirm my flight and then booked my hotel do I start to see every other man who possesses what I do not - the six-pack abs, a chest twice the size of mine, calves and biceps and thighs and asses of men who’ve dedicated themselves to gym time and eschewed the burgers and fries that I manage to wolf down for dinner before moving on to do the laundry and other mundane chores.

I also notice the ease that others have, the complete confidence and effortlessness that others enjoy their time naked, without any recognition that another person could be judging them for their height or weight or age or choice of “modifications“. You can recognize these people; they walk the beach and you can tell that they are enjoying the sun and wind and they don’t notice any glances made towards them, or if they do they don’t think for a moment that someone may be picking out any flaws with their body, or else they just don’t care…

It’s so funny how I think that everyone else at any given time on a nude beach is beautiful in their own way and if I could talk to each and everyone of them I would, if for no other reason but to acknowledge or our common enjoyment of the complete freedom that comes with a clothing-optional lifestyle. I would share with them my thoughts of wanting to be able to live in complete freedom and just share with them how nice it is to be in this brotherhood of people.

I still haven’t learned completely how to do that.

I still have problems with myself naked.

I have to admit that the first minutes on a nude beach are almost painful - there’s an unease, an apprehension when I first get naked, It’s age and gravity’s toll and genetics of being too tall and skinny. It’s a discomfort in being painfully, obviously Irish around tanned bodies, and it is two steps back emotionally because the vast majority of persons around me are shocked or put off by my choice of certain body art. None of these components should prohibit me from being at the beach enjoying the feelings that only nude recreation seems to bring me, yet the combinations of differences seem to make me feel as if I am some kind of naked piriah; tattoos would be ok if I was 20, being of pasty Celtic ancestry would be acceptable if I was really buff, and maybe being near 50 would be fine if I had those 6-pack abs (and a huge penis - a whole other esteem issue that warrants a page in and of itself).

I went through this last year before my vacation and sadly I have no time to get killer tan (not possible) or get those abs that others work on for 2 hours a day after work. Instead I have 14 days to quickly talk myself into truly accepting myself not only for how I look, and to ignore that others may be critical and possibly offended by my appearance. I have to really, really grasp that this should not prohibit me enjoying this time completely unencumbered.

Funny how I could tell any other person on earth hat none of this matters because it doesn’t matter.

Someone just remind me that it doesn’t matter ;>)

Has Stephen gone to far?

As nudists, most of us have heard of Stephen Gough. Tales of the Naked Rambler first surfaced in 2003 when he began crossing between the southwestern and northeastern tips of Great Britain, all while naked. The first crossing of the island was almost considered comical by all - a naked man walking across England tempered negative news of wars and economic depression and pain around the world. For a while there were few who held Stephen’s naked journey with contempt but instead it was almost as though his walk was the innocent traverse made by a man who wanted to be clothes-free, and as far as England was concerned there was no real harm done as he wound his way from Land’s End to John o’Groats.

Then Stephen Gough started to do it again.

So frequent have Gough’s immediate disrobings landed him in jail, resulting in as many Contempt of Court and Breach of Peace charges that he now faces life imprisonment for his naked civil disobedience.

Many people who shared Stephen Gough’s views, while not following suit, cheered him on and even stood by him through his first few incarcerations. However each time Gough was released he refused to clothe himself and with each new charge it seems the vast numbers of nudist organizations that once cheered on his efforts of body freedom fell silent, as if to say enough is enough - you're calling too much attention to us.

Has this man gone too far in trying to promote his right in being able to live a clothes-free lifestyle? Has he fallen from grace because many of us profess that we want to be able to choose when we are undressed, but none of can imagine walking out our front door naked and then turning the corner of our street that way? Is it because we state we want a clothing-optional lifestyle but we don’t like it when our wants are thrust onto the front pages of the news based on another person's actions, and the man responsible for this lays in solitary confinement in a Scottish prison?

I think that many do feel Stephen Gough has crossed the line, only because the minute his expression of body freedom became illegal and the frequency of his transgressions called into question his motives and mental stability, many organizations once vocally in favor of this man fell quiet out of concern of how the public’s opinion of this one person might now impact the status of “legal” nudism.

In essense, nudists have become concerned with the non-nudists view of us based on their comments and actions in response to Mr. Gough's exteme fight for equality.

We cannot allow this man to sit in prison without him knowing that we are pulling for him and recognize the great lengths to which he has gone in fighting for his freedoms. I admit readily to saying I would like to be naked at anytime and that I should have the right to do so, yet when I think of what it would be like to walk out my door naked, go to the corner, and then keep going, fully aware how people (including fellow nudists) would be standing in judgment of me and how the legal ramifications of these actions would impact me, well lets just say that I couldn’t fill Gough’s boots.

Contributions and well-wished for Stephen can be found by going to the following link:
http://www.nakedwalk.org/

Has Stephen Gough gone to far? If you ask me he went this far for us and quite possibly we haven’t gone far enough for him.

News feed - Search for items marked "nudist"

Well before I came out of the “clothing-optional” closet, long before the fist visit to a nude beach, naked cocktail party, and long before the first naked dare, I went on the internet and started seeking out other persons who had this undying need to be naked. With ever-advancing technology the search has become easier to find other nudists/naturists as well as scanning for events and news involving us.

Or so I thought.

Everyday I scan my inbox looking for something of value - something that tells me that we are making headway with our rights or at least that our wants and needs are being vocalized in a manner that presents us as deserving individuals. I look for news that we’re wishing and fighting for privileges that allow us broader freedoms, allowing us to think of something other than immediately needing to lower the blinds in our own homes before we take off our tops and bottoms.

These days my inbox is filled with stories of the latest NBA player whose nude cell photo has made its way from an admirer’s phone onto the internet or the ingénue’s public statement that either she’s so liberal she’d do a nude scene in her next movie or else that she’s too moral to ever consider it.

Not really nudist news if you ask me.

I keep looking for press releases from local, national, and international nudist organizations about growing enrollments, about what they recognize as the next lost liberty, about the latest beach to lose nude status, and coverage about the man seen naked in his own home being charged with indecent exposure and jailed.

I’ve stated before that we should all consider joining nudist and naturist organizations and I still feel this way. It may be difficult for many to find one they fully agree with or one that they feel represents their type of nudism. It may be hard as a home-nudist when you feel that aligning with a public organization doesn’t yield any personal benefits and even more it may cause feelings that a personal threshold has been crossed, and sometimes that’s a very scary thing. But I suggest that we use these organizations for two reasons; we use them as a vehicle for each and every one of us to be counted as a woman or man that requires certain rights that we feel are currently not available to us (or are being eroded slightly every day), and that we ask these organizations become cohesive with one another in representing us more publicly in order for a stronger voice to be heard. I know in this day and age $20.00, $30.00, or $50.00 is often needed for food or utilities or that there may be concerns about taking your own personal nudism to the next step in participating with any organization in any manner, but I think we must join and then we must start the public dialogue.

We have to join hands and unite voices, and whether we do so with our real names and faces and bodies or we do so with aliases via the internet, we collectively have to fight for our rights while preventing the few we have from slipping from our hands.

Now, the next time I see some real news about us I’ll pass it your way…

I’m back, with apologies

So I’m back; it’s been almost a year without having posted anything to this blog or having spoken with the people I met by starting it, and I have to admit writing this one is tough - I’ve thought of doing it for a couple of weeks now but like all difficult things I have a tendency to procrastinate when something’s not joyful or fun.

What’s not fun is that I have to apologize to everyone who ever read the blog or contacted me about it because I now have to explain my reason for having been absent, not only from the blog but also for having abandoned what I believe in.

Early last year I started seeing someone and during the relationship I basically deserted nudism in favor of a relationship with a person that did not believe in it.

Now I’m back after that door has closed and I’ve had a little time for the pain to the softern the loss.

I’m not proud for having let a person I care about change me, not proud for wanting to be with a person that wouldn’t accept what I was about, and in the end I still am having to determine which was worse - my wanting to be with someone so much that I would be with a person who wanted me to change so drastically or the fact that I did change and gave up a small part of myself to reach for something I believed might be more important.

Finding someone who accepts you for who you are is important - I hope I’ve learned my lesson.

I must look back and determine why I felt I needed someone else so much that I allowed them to alter me. It’s not the first time I have taken two steps back in personal growth, hoping that this one might be the one, putting my own wants and needs aside. Compromise is one thing, but giving up the way you want to live and who you want to be is more than compromise, it’s desperation…

During the past 10 months I’ve bought a house, had the company I work for purchased by a multi-million dollar publicly-held corporation, and ended what I thought might be a last chance at happiness.

Some good changes and some bad changes, plenty of fodder for a blog.

My apologies to you for dropping of the face of the earth without a word - too bad because many of you, more than friends and family who have known me for a lifetime, understand me.

I think it's nice to be back.

A codpiece is better than full-frontal - REALLY????

Ahhhh - June 14: the world-wide date for the World Naked Bike Ride, an innocent gesture to get people to take notice of our unhealthy consumption of non-renewable resources. This year over 70 cities organized events whereas naked riders peddle through their city to landmark a dependence on oil and it's negative impacts.

But not in Boulder, Colorado.

In Boulder the warnings started early; any person exposing themselves fully would lead to receiving a charge of indecent exposure and as I have pointed out before, a charge of indecent exposure in the state of Colorado is an immediate mark against that person as a sexual predator, resulting in said person's requirement of registering as a sex offender.

The Denver Post states that everyone behaved themselves - well they had to when threats of a felony charge which would impact the rest of their lives were thrown at them.

Now Boulder has always been more carefree, more liberal, more tolerant the Denver. In fact, although Denver attempted the guise of a local event, truth is that Boulder is about the only city in Colorado that could pull it off - that is until Boulder city officials and police threatened to levy the devastating charges against riders should they disrobe. I guess I'll have to stop thinking of Boulder as that fun-loving, live-and-let-live city that was always so much more progressive and accepting than Denver could be.

The Denver Post reports that people were in underwear, swimwear and there was even a creative codpiece or two. They did allow women to go top-free, I guess there has been some progress made in realizing that at least the top half of your body isn't dirty or something to be ashamed of. If only we can get people to realize there is nothing with the rest of your body then we might get someplace - and tell me that a codpiece isn't a little more demanding of attention than a plain ol' penis...

I will admit I didn't even entertain participating this year based on these reports (coupled with the incidents at last years Pumpkin Run) which is sad as at 6'6" I drive an economical car, I recycle, and I've given up my house and yard for a more energy and water efficient apartment - but I have to live somewhere and have no desire to posted on a national website with a label that is best worn by rapists and pedophiles, resulting in my being drawn and quartered by my building-mates.

I was at Haulover Beach in April for 10 days and the experience was great. Legal, social nakedness with no fear of repercussion is the most freeing and liberating joy you can experience (sans sex). Colorado does not allow for this freedom and I still have yet to understand why, although it is good to know that I can hop on my bike in my skivvies and be left alone.

Maybe I'll hit San Francisco or Portland next June - I hear there were no arrests and no codpieces.

A link to the Denver Post article has been included for your reference:

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_12587273

T-minus 10 and counting…

In ten days I head to Miami and in as many days I will be on the sand at Haulover Beach. From what I can ascertain it’s one of the top 10 nude beaches in the world and I’m to the point where I am practically counting the hours.

Now every nude beach that I’ve been to has a different feel; San Onofre is relaxed and mellow and if you break away from the small legal area, you can walk the shores of the Pacific immediately under Camp Pendleton for miles in the early morning without encountering another sole. Baker Beach is cool, breezy and not for those with any reservations about being seen; unmarked in it’s legal status and with a stellar view of the Golden Gate Bridge, you can be 1 of 5 nudists swarmed by hundreds of unknowing and unsuspecting tourists and if you‘ve got issues with being in the public view this might not be the beach for you. Sandy Hook is a free-for-all for East Coasters and tourists, and with a far view of New York City it produces a throng that may either embrace you or simply look through you, depending on how they feel that day.

I’m anxious about Haulover for two reasons; First, it is always interesting to step foot onto a new beach and gauge the ambiance, the vibe that the beach and its inhabitants produce. Secondly (in my opinion) this beach is possibly the most publicly visible beach, overlooked by some of Florida’s most expensive and coveted high-rise real estate.

Now the second part intrigues me more - as a nudist which feels our access to public lands is unduly limited and that nudity should never be considered nasty or illegal, I have no issue with the thought of being seen by any of Miami’s clothed elite while naked, or being surrounded by those visitors experiencing the much, much larger textile portion of Haulover. But, even with legal status it must be a little like being on display and for someone who has a little bit of a penchant for being naked where he shouldn’t be, I’m very much ok with this.

Nude beaches fulfill so much for so many of us; A place to feel the warmth of the sun and an ocean breeze on your body, a place to feel unencumbered and a place to see and be with others like us - to nod your head to the others that have to live like me, fully clothed when we’d prefer not to be. Being naked is so important to me that I don’t know if I could ever take a vacation where it wasn’t part of the itinerary; couple this with the support of nude organizations which keep me apprised of our status and assist in allowing us to be counted and I feel that I’m doing my small part.

So my hope is to take my laptop and provide a 10-day view of Haulover. I’m bringing carry-on luggage because when you visit a nude beach, you only need be concerned with adequate clothing to get to and from the beach and maybe be prepared for a dinner or two - I think I can get the trusty computer in there as well. So I’ve told myself to document the days activities so they can be remembered. I hope to talk about the feel of the beach and the people I meet and my impression of naked Miami, maybe even see if there’s anyplace else to drop my trousers, because as a man wanting more to do naked it’s always fun to push the envelope.

I’ll bring my camera too.

Now if anyone in Miami reads this and is at Haulover when I lay out my towel, say hi when you see me there…