Category: Normalising Naturism (Page 2 of 3)

Some days are more frustrating than others, and then there is that moment when the universe sends you a message so that you come back to your senses. For myself, and in my opinion, frustration to life is a personal response, not necessarily a conscious response. And to be honest, it is rarely a conscious response.

I am a laid back person and what frustrates my wife or others, typically doesn’t frustrate me. I don’t for a moment discount the real frustration that others feel. We all have our own degrees of tolerance for various types of situations, a range of tolerance responses. Our feeling responses are based on our individual life history. What then frustrates me, doesn’t typically match up with what frustrates others.

For example, I get frustrated when I sense I don’t have control of my personal world, especially when it comes to nudity.  While walking in the country today, I got frustrated. I saw the hills where I would walk completely free, free-hiking. I ached to be free-hiking, yet here I was, bundled up in three layers, a necessary three layers, in order to stay warm while walking.

Just a month ago, I wore next to nothing for my long-distance hikes – a pair of tan through mini briefs. At appropriate locations, even these briefs would disappear and I would savour sunshine on every square inch/cm of my body for literally hours at a time. Now, I try to capture the same feeling while the temperatures try to nudge the zero Celsius mark on the thermometer, a few moments at a time. For those few moments, frustration dissipates.

Yesterday evening, just before eight, I went onto the back deck and saw the colours of the sunset to the west-northwest. I forgot about the chill [cold for many others] and I simply breathed it all in. At that moment, I knew that somehow I was blessed. I had my health, I had my freedom, I had my home, and I was with my life-mate.  I breathed freely and was frustration free.

Find your magical moments and breathe.

The sun is out. The temperature is still below zero, but with the backyard protected from a southern breeze, I actually enjoyed a few moments in the yard. There is a promise for above zero temperatures in the afternoon which should make for a pleasant afternoon of drinking tea au naturel on the back deck … as long as there is sunshine and the wind doesn’t become a factor. I can’t believe just how good it feels to be outside in my natural state.

I just received an email from my local [defined as being local as in the closest – 4 hours distant] naturist site, Green Haven. Someone is selling their trailer there for $9000. It is tempting though I already own a trailer, albeit a much smaller trailer. The problem is, I don’t know how often I would get to the trailer. Time, circumstance, and weather are always limiting factors. For example, one year I will manage almost three weeks spread out over the summer, and then the next year perhaps only four days during which time I still have wind and rain making for a less-than-perfect outing.

The world is changing in a hurry and none of us knows how this change will impact naturist havens. Will we be able to even get to our naturist sanctuaries this year? Will the world become even more reactionary and fundamentalist in the aftermath of the current pandemic? Will the world become more liberal and open to nudity which would then leave very little motivation to travel distances and pay fees for the opportunity to be nude, when we could have all of this at home? With so many unknowns, it is hard to make a decision that has a significant cost.

How do you envision the future of naturism in the post-pandemic world? Will we be using our naturist venues more or less? Will the economic cost be too much for a world that is suffering huge disruptions to the local, regional, national, and international economies? I would like to hear your thoughts.

This morning, I woke up to clear skies. With dawn, the sun made an appearance and promised a sunny day. Mid-way through the morning, everything had changed and it began to snow. This is normal for the Canadian prairies. The only certitude is that the world, the weather, and life is dynamic and volatile. With the wind now up, I have decided to stay indoors after a short time outdoors. While outdoors, I managed to cut a piece of wood for a new shelf. Of course, I was doing all of this while unclothed.

Now, I am inside, nice and warm. This afternoon, there is a learning practice run using Zoom to prepare for tomorrow’s extended-family Easter Sunday gathering at distance. So far, the efforts appear to be working quite well once individuals get a bit of experience.  Like the dynamic and changing weather, we are learning about computer-mediated communication in a dynamic manner. The need for learning new ways to relate to each other in these days of covid19 social distancing, is vital.

Connectedness. Being connected in some manner with others is vital to one’s well-being. As people have learned in the past, as long as there is a sense of being connected, one is able to better navigate being alone. In some extreme cases of isolation, that feeling of being connected is often projected onto imaginary friends. When some see one talking to oneself, it could be that was is observed is a real conversation with absent others. Of course, being present face-to-face [f2f] is the optimum means of enabling and enhancing connectedness. Social media and video-conferencing platforms are likely the second best option. Audio [telephones, etc.] connection is next with chat [text] connections rounding out the most prevalent means we use to stay connected to others.

In spite of these options, people still feel disconnected for one reason or other regardless of whether one is in a face-to-face situation or in a chatroom conversation. The means are there, but there remains an internal disconnect. During Covid19, the problem of feeling disconnected and alone is magnified. For many, it needs the catalyst of someone they know, even if only slightly, to breach the isolation being felt. Knowing that, we each need to reach out to others, especially the ones in our lives who have gone silent. One never knows if that will save a life, or save a person’s sanity.

Be there for others, and you might find that others are there for you. This is who we are as humans. We are social beings.