I often contemplate, and write about, a naturist’s early days — discovering nudity, exploring its many gifts, experimenting, learning about naturism and considering what it all means. I like to think of it as a naturist’s awakening. I’m not necessarily referring to the typical “first time” story. Those usually center on a first time going to a nude beach, nude hike, nude resort/club, etc…. It’s the first time a naturist was socially nude, or at least nude around others. Don’t get me wrong, those stories are great. Despite their general repetition, they are still favorites and always enjoyable to hear. Love ‘em.
Thanks very much for sharing Daniel. Very interesting story. Glad you were able to navigate the troubled times and are in a better place now.
I find that so many naturists have a story of how naturism changed them. While I have viewed it as a part time hobby of sorts at times in my life, that certainly isn’t the case for me now. I feel like I discovered something that has bestowed me with more gifts than I can count. Glad to see it so intertwined with your happiness as well. Thanks again for taking the time to share a comment.
Like you, I had a love of nudity from a very early age. I also lived in an environment where this was forbidden fruit, if not perversity. I did what you did, spent free time alone naked and stayed dressed when others were likely to be around.
In some ways I was an extreme case of a free range child, being able to play unsupervised in large acreage of trees and fields with a river running through it. I didn't worry about it being perverse until puberty set in - and then all kinds of sexuality and fear entered the mix. I didn't get that sorted out until I left home for college and started modeling for art classes. I had zero experience of social nudity with females present. First time was a major embarrassment but I adapted and things calmed down. Its that same sexuality that may cause teenagers to drop out of nudism.
So, is a nudist born or made? I have a touch of autism. Enough to make my life intermittently miserable but not enough that anyone would call me on it. Call it high functioning or call it Asperger's.
Autistic children have great difficulty absorbing social conventions. It is the core of their problem. They don't fit in and are often socially isolated. That probably has a great deal with why I didn't absorb body shame. It's not that I wasn't taught it, I think I was incapable of learning it. It didn't feel logical and if I was anything, I was a little Spock. There were a lot of other lessons I didn't learn and it has been a lifetime of working things out.
Some autistic children have a great deal of difficulty staying dressed. That freaks out some parents (Mine would have gone ballistic!) and others couldn't care less. It could be a contributing factor. There could also have been events involving nudity that I don't remember that set me on a course that I persisted in, despite all social conditioning to the contrary.
I was more than a little rebellious and I was smart and sneaky and stubborn enough that I usually won. Being a solitary and unsocial child probably reduced the effectiveness of peer pressure. Being a somewhat feral child allowed enjoyment of nudity to continue to flourish without suffering adverse consequences in an otherwise hostile environment.
But... none of that matters. I am an old man. The past is fixed. I am a product of all that has come before. The things about myself I wanted to change have ether been modified or are not malleable. Being a lover of nudity is not one of the things I would want to change.
Fascinating story Fred. I sincerely appreciate you sharing that, such a personal aspect to your naturist story. I’m glad you found naturism. It sounds like you were a good fit.
Thanks for sharing, Fred. I don't know if I'm on the autism spectrum, but neither am I neurotypical: I simply don't think the same way other people do. Was it that or was it because I was an only, adopted child being raised in a different part of the country than my biological families, by people not genetically related to me? Whatever it was, I never seemed to fit in.
I was also adopted. Didn't find my biological family until I was 60, thanks to a 23 and Me DNA test. I don't have a lot in common with them, either. My bio-father might have been autistic but he's long gone.
I can honestly say I "discovered" nudism in 2021 when I was already in my 50's. Before then, I enjoyed getting naked from time to time, especially in nature, but I attributed this to a semi-sexual urge. I thought it was something to be ashamed of--to be kept hidden. While I had heard of nudism, I didn't know any nudists. I had no idea what it was and nothing prompted me to be curious about it.
Sometime around the beginning of 2021 I started sunbathing for the first time in my life. I had a private deck off my bedroom, and wearing shorts to sunbathe in seemed rather silly. I googled "naked sunbathing" looking for tips about the dangers of sun exposure (spoiler: they're overblown), use of sunscreen, and the like. Those searches led me to discover that nudism was a thing; that it wasn't sexual (or didn't have to be); and that it wasn't anything to be ashamed of. I kept googling and consuming information about naturism and nudism. It only took a few months for me to join AANR. I discovered the joys of hiking naked. I made reservations for a local clothing-optional hot springs where I had my first experience with social nudity. It felt so natural! While it took some getting used to, now I am naked at every opportunity.
Good for you Bill. Better late than never! While the internet certainly has some drawbacks, it’s ability to provide me a wealth of nudist information was truly a godsend. Fortunately I was able to pick out the genuine naturist information. Glad you were able to find naturism and make it a rewarding part of your life.
In “First time” stories, it’s glossed over with a simple “I had always been curious”, or “I liked being naked” or some other generality. But I think there is much more to it than that.
That's so true.
For me, nudity wasn't just a way of accepting my body, but it was a form of taking back my body. I was abused as a boy and was exposed to others who were abused as well. I was paralyzed in fear. As an adult, I was married for 37 years to a woman who wanted sex often, but just laid there. I was basically performing a service. In both cases, my body wasn't my own. After my wife at the time tried to destroy my relationship with my kids, I woke up. I said enough. I divorced her and found a secluded home to heal.
I lived naked as much as I could. It was so freeing. I was starting to take my body back. Later, I visited a nudist bed and breakfast. That was nice, but not life changing. Then I attended a nudist volleyball event. I was extremely nervous but developed the courage to enter. Bam! It was so liberating. I truly felt like I was me. My body was my own. I would not be ashamed or scared. I was not paralyzed. I was alive. I've been an active social nudist ever since. I remarried; my new wife joins me, recently, as does my adopted child.
Thanks very much for sharing Daniel. Very interesting story. Glad you were able to navigate the troubled times and are in a better place now.
I find that so many naturists have a story of how naturism changed them. While I have viewed it as a part time hobby of sorts at times in my life, that certainly isn’t the case for me now. I feel like I discovered something that has bestowed me with more gifts than I can count. Glad to see it so intertwined with your happiness as well. Thanks again for taking the time to share a comment.
Like you, I had a love of nudity from a very early age. I also lived in an environment where this was forbidden fruit, if not perversity. I did what you did, spent free time alone naked and stayed dressed when others were likely to be around.
In some ways I was an extreme case of a free range child, being able to play unsupervised in large acreage of trees and fields with a river running through it. I didn't worry about it being perverse until puberty set in - and then all kinds of sexuality and fear entered the mix. I didn't get that sorted out until I left home for college and started modeling for art classes. I had zero experience of social nudity with females present. First time was a major embarrassment but I adapted and things calmed down. Its that same sexuality that may cause teenagers to drop out of nudism.
So, is a nudist born or made? I have a touch of autism. Enough to make my life intermittently miserable but not enough that anyone would call me on it. Call it high functioning or call it Asperger's.
Autistic children have great difficulty absorbing social conventions. It is the core of their problem. They don't fit in and are often socially isolated. That probably has a great deal with why I didn't absorb body shame. It's not that I wasn't taught it, I think I was incapable of learning it. It didn't feel logical and if I was anything, I was a little Spock. There were a lot of other lessons I didn't learn and it has been a lifetime of working things out.
Some autistic children have a great deal of difficulty staying dressed. That freaks out some parents (Mine would have gone ballistic!) and others couldn't care less. It could be a contributing factor. There could also have been events involving nudity that I don't remember that set me on a course that I persisted in, despite all social conditioning to the contrary.
I was more than a little rebellious and I was smart and sneaky and stubborn enough that I usually won. Being a solitary and unsocial child probably reduced the effectiveness of peer pressure. Being a somewhat feral child allowed enjoyment of nudity to continue to flourish without suffering adverse consequences in an otherwise hostile environment.
But... none of that matters. I am an old man. The past is fixed. I am a product of all that has come before. The things about myself I wanted to change have ether been modified or are not malleable. Being a lover of nudity is not one of the things I would want to change.
Fascinating story Fred. I sincerely appreciate you sharing that, such a personal aspect to your naturist story. I’m glad you found naturism. It sounds like you were a good fit.
Thanks for sharing, Fred. I don't know if I'm on the autism spectrum, but neither am I neurotypical: I simply don't think the same way other people do. Was it that or was it because I was an only, adopted child being raised in a different part of the country than my biological families, by people not genetically related to me? Whatever it was, I never seemed to fit in.
I was also adopted. Didn't find my biological family until I was 60, thanks to a 23 and Me DNA test. I don't have a lot in common with them, either. My bio-father might have been autistic but he's long gone.
I can honestly say I "discovered" nudism in 2021 when I was already in my 50's. Before then, I enjoyed getting naked from time to time, especially in nature, but I attributed this to a semi-sexual urge. I thought it was something to be ashamed of--to be kept hidden. While I had heard of nudism, I didn't know any nudists. I had no idea what it was and nothing prompted me to be curious about it.
Sometime around the beginning of 2021 I started sunbathing for the first time in my life. I had a private deck off my bedroom, and wearing shorts to sunbathe in seemed rather silly. I googled "naked sunbathing" looking for tips about the dangers of sun exposure (spoiler: they're overblown), use of sunscreen, and the like. Those searches led me to discover that nudism was a thing; that it wasn't sexual (or didn't have to be); and that it wasn't anything to be ashamed of. I kept googling and consuming information about naturism and nudism. It only took a few months for me to join AANR. I discovered the joys of hiking naked. I made reservations for a local clothing-optional hot springs where I had my first experience with social nudity. It felt so natural! While it took some getting used to, now I am naked at every opportunity.
Good for you Bill. Better late than never! While the internet certainly has some drawbacks, it’s ability to provide me a wealth of nudist information was truly a godsend. Fortunately I was able to pick out the genuine naturist information. Glad you were able to find naturism and make it a rewarding part of your life.
I hadn't noticed the intro excuses you mentioned:
In “First time” stories, it’s glossed over with a simple “I had always been curious”, or “I liked being naked” or some other generality. But I think there is much more to it than that.
That's so true.
For me, nudity wasn't just a way of accepting my body, but it was a form of taking back my body. I was abused as a boy and was exposed to others who were abused as well. I was paralyzed in fear. As an adult, I was married for 37 years to a woman who wanted sex often, but just laid there. I was basically performing a service. In both cases, my body wasn't my own. After my wife at the time tried to destroy my relationship with my kids, I woke up. I said enough. I divorced her and found a secluded home to heal.
I lived naked as much as I could. It was so freeing. I was starting to take my body back. Later, I visited a nudist bed and breakfast. That was nice, but not life changing. Then I attended a nudist volleyball event. I was extremely nervous but developed the courage to enter. Bam! It was so liberating. I truly felt like I was me. My body was my own. I would not be ashamed or scared. I was not paralyzed. I was alive. I've been an active social nudist ever since. I remarried; my new wife joins me, recently, as does my adopted child.