Budding Nudist

Let us begin at the beginning or at least the beginning for some. As the story goes, in the most famous book in the world, male and female lived nude amongst each other. The storied utopia quickly changed with the unfortunate consumption of a forbidden fruit that forever changed the dress code. Literalists will argue with the contextualists over the actuality of said events but regardless of your government-recognized tax-exempt religion affiliation, the fact remains; even after this beginning story of the ultimate dressing of humans, the story of nudity still exists.

When I bring up casual nudity there is a wide range of emotions, everything from fear to excitement, curiosity to annoyance, feeling of freedom to the feeling of shame. The mere thought of being naked stirs a range of emotions and for reasons that are just as unique as each of our beautiful bodies. And I was never really happy with the reasons to why that was.

Similar to the beginning stories of the Bible, I, like everyone, started my life naked. As such, there is logic behind the argument that being naked is natural, because we are simply born naked; but without fail, we are all seemingly trained to recognize a different natural. Quickly after we are born we are wrapped in cloth and presented to others. This initial wrap is then followed by years of wearing cute-ish baby costumes. The feeling of natural becomes one with clothing rather than without.

Obviously certain environment conditions require the extra layers, but I moved to Southern California and that is when my life without clothes began... once more. In my research, I've tackled tasks, forms of entertainment, and even chores in the nude. I've been nude alone, with one other person, and there have been times I was naked with scores of other strangers. My research pushed me out of the comfort zone which was defined by years of layers. I have gained so much from these experiences and I will share them here because I've learned to become vulnerable to find my acceptance and build my confidence. I believe we can all use a bit more humility and maybe this wacky way isn't wacky at all.