The Nude Life

Since joining and being active in our local nudist club, we’ve made more friends among them than we ever made outside of nudist ‘circles.’ It is very true that it’s easier to make friends out of nudists than make nudists out of friends, as one of our (nudist) friends often remarks. And since we spend so much of our leisure time, especially during the long summer, relaxing and partying with our nudist club friends, we feel that our best and closest friends are all nudists.

So when we are chatting with our non-nudist friends (all of whom have no idea of our other, ’secret life’ of nudism), they are always astonished by both the vitality other activities we are always busy doing (pool parties, vacation trips, out-of-town outings to visit friends, etc.), as well as with the number of friends we refer to in conversation. It was quite evident, for example, that our non-nudist friends and co-workers were astonished when we said we were going on a group trip to Cancun with 20 other friends…they simply cannot imagine how people can have so many good friends and feel so comfortable with them to spend a week’s vacation together with them.

Friendships among nudists are true, deep and genuine, I think, because as nudists, we see all of each other, with all our blemishes and imperfections, and relate to each other as people, not because of social status, possessions, and other outward materialistic markings. Being nude together with others in a purely social setting is really a great equalizer, and has brought us (and everyone we know who has tried it) many great friendships because of the barriers and artificiality that disappear when we see ourselves and each other in the natural state.

How has being a nudist changed your circle of friends — and what effect has your nudist participation had on your non-nudist social life? Discuss it in The Nude Life Forum!

Over the weekend, we were chatting with a new nudist friend, a beautiful young woman who, with her husband, had discovered the joys of social nudism just recently while still in their early 30s. I asked the question I ask of nearly all new nudist friends, inquiring of them how they came to the nudist experience — and in their case, how they were lucky enough to discover it in early adulthood.

She responded that it was her husband’s idea to try it, and that he was very “gung-ho” to visit a nude beach. After much persuasion, she agreed to go along with him on a visit to Hippie Hollow, the famous “nude beach” on Austin’s Lake Travis.

Resolute that she would “never” take her clothes off, she went with her husband to placate his wish, and they soon found themselves at the famous “radio rock” at Hippie Hollow, a spot along the rocky shore where everyday people congregated, nude, to enjoy the beautiful scenery, weather, and the joy of simple nudism. No creepy perverts, no sex maniacs, no weirdos anywhere in sight, she remarked.

After a short while, she looked around and began to feel fairly self-conscious, dressed as she still was in a bikini. “OK,” she sighed, “I’ll take off my top.” And she did — then she noticed that no one really cared, stared, or made any notice of her state of dress or undress. Shortly after that, feeling the freedom and acceptance that nudism imparts to all who try it, she dispensed with the remaining scraps of textile that separated her from pure freedom, and, as she says, she “was hooked in a minute.” She was the last one on the beach that day to put her clothes back on.

As she says now, “It was just no big deal.” Nobody cared, one way or the other, what, if anything, she wore. Nude was better, she quickly discovered, and much more comfortable.
But the complete acceptance of her, clothed or nude, by the other visitors to Radio Rock at Hippie Hollow that day showed her how simple, how liberating, and how natural nudism is.

Now as confirmed, practicing, enthusiastic nudists, she and her husband have a whole lifetime of nude pleasure awaiting them. So many others will go their whole lives without discovering what they have found; for others, the revelation of nudism comes later or even too late in life to be fully enjoyed.

Like I have told many people over the years, nudism is like skydiving, SCUBA diving or learning to fly a plane: if you have ever thought about doing it, you should give it a try. One try will convince you one way or the other if it’s something you love and want to pursue, or if it’s not for you. But it is much better to try it and find out, than look back upon a lifetime wondering if perhaps you have missed something marvelous.

Can wearing less — less clothes, that is — add more to one’s life?

That is certainly the case with our experience, and with that of many of our closest nudist friends. As nudists, of course, we wind up wearing the literal minimum of clothing as often as possible — meaning we enjoy life nude whenever practical and possible. But does becoming a nudist, or practicing the nudist lifestyle, really add more to one’s life? And if so, why?

We and many of our nudist friends would argue strongly in the affirmative. In fact, nearly everyone we’ve met through nudism has remarked at one time or another that they never would have met and made friends with so many wonderful people as they have through social nudism.

We agree. The bonds that being nude socially with others brings is something special, something which we can not find a parallel for in any other social setting. People from very different backgrounds, professions, levels of income and education are brought together through nudism and the liberating, equalizing effect that being unclad with others brings.

When we mention to non-nudist friends that we spent the weekend at a party with 70 or so good friends, they blink in disbelief. Yet, it’s true: all of our close friends, and nearly everyone we consider good friends, are folks we met through nudism — and it is a number far greater than the friends we had before becoming nudists.

So yes, less is more when it comes to friendships and meeting a wide range of great, easy-going people — less clothes, that is!

The long string of horrible, rainy, cloudy weather here in North Texas broke clear for this weekend, giving all of us pale nudists a glorious couple of days to get back out into the sunshine.

Saturday was wonderful. As mentioned earlier, we visited a local resort to celebrate the wedding of two nudist friends. The weather for their special day could not have been better, and the warm sun brought out a big crowd of friends to help them celebrate late into the night. Everyone was delighted to be back outside, soaking up the warmth of the Texas sunshine, and relaxing with our nudist friends once again as we should be doing all through the hot Texas summer.

It turns out that the bride is a relative newcomer to social nudism, having just discovered it less than three years ago. Needless to say, she loves it, and found a sweetheart who also loves the pleasure, friendship and freedom that nudism brings to everyone who tries it. They love it so much that they wanted to spend their wedding day with all of us, nude and enjoying the beauty of Nature in all its forms.

We are lucky to know such fine people, who share our love for this simple pleasure, and who aren’t afraid to enjoy life in the nude, unashamed and free of the hang-ups and pretensions society tries to burden us with.

We nudists have found something special. Saturday’s nude wedding day celebration is just another example of what a great life-changer it can be when people discover all the delights that social nudism brings.

After the wedding, Sunday was another fine day and there was no reason to get dressed all day, save for a short run on errands in the early afternoon. Aside from those 90 clothed minutes, we were able to return to the typical weekend mode here of sunning, swimming, relaxing outdoors and indoors, without the bother of clothing to disrupt the pleasure of a beautiful day.

Two days of perfect weather, spent in the nude and with friends and loved ones, is like two weeks of vacation for the clothed set. Now let’s just hope the sun stays with us for the balance of the summer so this wonderful feeling can continue — and we can keep our tans in shape!

Happy Independence Day!

Today is the day our local club usually celebrates the American July 4th holiday with a pool party, which we dub the “Clothing Independence Day Party,” offering our members a few hours of freedom from textiles, a release from the tyranny of tan lines, and other such frilly language as a way to justify another excuse to get naked and enjoy life with friends on a hot summer’s day.

Because of the mid-week date of July 4th this year, we don’t have a full-blown party planned, but there is an informal “sun and loaf” invitation from one of our members to relax by her pool and soak up some rays, without all the usual party attributes of a big catered meal and so on. But with the dismal rainy weather we’ve had in the Dallas area for the last six weeks, even that might not happen as it seems the clouds and rain will be with us again today.

However, the term “Clothing Independence” is worth contemplating for a moment, on this day or any other, as it affords a chance to think of the freedom that nudism brings to nearly everyone who tries it: freedom from pretentiousness, freedom from hang-ups over class and status, freedom from bad self-esteem, freedom from judging people because of immutable attributes such as age, size or shape.

Those are the freedoms we have found in social nudism, along with many more benefits large and small, and we wish the same to all our fellow nudists and those many millions who will follow us into the wonderful, liberating lifestyle.