If It Makes You Happy

Life can be a booger bear! Not everything we encounter, take on, conquer or even fail at brings happy moments. Pain is always involved to some degree. In my younger days, I really thought I had life pretty figured out, knew what my strengths were and what path I wanted to be on. As I've aged, I've had the opportunity, good fortune AND misfortune to travel both the highways and less trodden roads life has had to offer.

I wanted to share just a few observations with you from those many many miles, bathed in sunshine, thunderstorms, heartache, blessings and furrowed brow. Now, I think we all can agree that every choice we make affects not just us but others. Whether it's family, friends, co-workers or even those we may not even know, every action has an equal reaction. Kinda sucks huh? Yes and no. Without consequence what do we learn? Not nearly as much!

For many years I enjoyed the freedom to go and do on my own, answering to no one but myself and my conscience. Jobs changed, relationships came and went, even marriages. I battled health issues that would have killed a lesser man. I still battle some of those issues to this day. Life both gave and took. Every single event I've endured has shaped me in some way into the person I am today.

As an adult living on my own after college I came to understand the freedom I found in my own human body. The sensation of sun on my bare skin, the feeling of a warm breeze blowing across every inch of me. It became something I craved and not just for the physical feeling but for the spiritual connection it deepened within me. Had I really become one of "those" people? A nudist? I wasn't convinced and just wrote it off as "I'm single and it's convenient." Years went by and I would find myself enjoying as much time as I could  out on my back patio enjoying time in the sun in my God given suit. Loved the way that I looked all nice and tan, loved the way I felt, and loved the way I was unencumbered physically and emotionally. For me a new awakening had happened. I was seeing not just myself differently, loving Me for me, but I began to see people for people.

No longer was I concerned about what logo was embroidered on someone's shirt, what brand of kicks they were wearing. I Saw people, their heart, their intentions, their motives. No masks, no labels. Sizes, shapes, ethnicities, disabilities, age, none of it began to matter or bother me. Up until this point in my life I had some pretty crazy judgmental criteria. I even had labels for people. Barkies, Yettis, Prep-ophiles, and so on. Looking back, I am appalled and ashamed at myself for my narrow-mindedness. This whole clothes free thing had really done quite a number on me and in a most excellent way. Over the following years I kept it pretty much to myself, sharing only with one roommate that I had. She was very open minded and had no problem with her own body either. We shared a great friendship and I to this day am very thankful for that. In fact, we are still friends!

Throughout the years I've worked different jobs in a diverse realm of fields from juvenile justice to office manager to construction. I've been on staff at churches, worked in local  communities with charity events, been involved with coaching kids baseball  and soccer teams, and a plethora of other things, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The sad part of it all though was I always had this hidden part of me. It was that I really hated clothes and I loved being free. Society here in the U.S. is such a tainted, bigoted cesspool of misinformation. 99% of the time anyone mentions naked or nude and red flags are thrown like penalty flags during the Super Bowl. The general consensus is always, nude is lewd and it HAS to be sexual in nature and inappropriate.

I had never believed that personally, even before my freedom epiphany. Being reared in a very conservative family, I was pretty much taught that modesty meant keeping YOU covered. Seeing your family, friends or anyone else undressed only meant that it was cuz you were up to No good. We all knew what that meant. And like most teenage boys, I did a lot of that, lol. Fast forwarding to the past 10 years. The more I began to branch out and really understand and accept that I am a nudist, I would find places to go and explore on my own, being free out in nature. Hiking, camping, sunning on beaches, taking walks were new found freedom adventures. All of which had great risks involved but they were just what I felt I needed to do.

Consequences. I am much more vocal now about my life choice and promote body positivity and body acceptance in a great number of forums without hesitation. Not everyone in my circles knows fully that I am a nudist and some probably never will, and there is viable reason for that at this point. For the large majority, they know. Yes I have lost a few friends, even some family a long the way. Some have just shook their head and said, "I don't want to know" while others said, "wow, good for you, but don't bring  me into it!" There have been a few however who I was surprised by and found out that they too believe the way that I do. Imagine that! I totally respect anyone's take on it. It is my desire though that people in general will at a minimum, come to the point and way of thinking that a body is just a body. We all share the same exact parts. Under all our clothes we are identical. Guys have a penis. Gals have breasts and a vagina. BOTH have nipples, which both should have total freedom to be out in the open. It gets hot, people!! Don't even get me started on breastfeeding in public. That is a no brainer!!

I am active in the nudist circles, I've got some amazing genuine "real" friends I call family. I am so thankful for them. We are close and check in with each other daily. Those friendships are hard to come by. What I'm getting at is, You may not agree with my decision, and you may think I am off my rocker. That's fine. What I do ask is, don't let that be a deal breaker. I will never judge any of you for the choices you make, but will stand by your side as your friend, even if you love Nascar. lol. What makes a person happy, harms no one, brings peace, fosters in healthy conversations, living healthier, making bonds with each other: Those are the things that really matter. I'll add one last thing. If you have never just stripped down even for an hour, and just taken any time to find YOU, accept your scars, your weight, your shape, size, stretch marks, sagging this or that, or be proud of the transformations you've made through hard work, maybe you should. Never know what you will discover about the real, unfiltered you. And should you like what you see, Not just in the mirror, let me know. I would love to celebrate with you. We all would. Love you guys dearly. Feel very blessed to call you friends, and, family.

Here is me, unashamed and proud of all my ins, outs and imperfections.