Naturist Couple

Why Go Nude?

Well, why not?

This was actually a question I asked myself a couple of years ago when the idea of visiting a naturist beach started to increase in volume in my mind. I mean, why would you want to strip off on a beach for all-and-sundry to see? And after some thought, only one answer was left. And coming in the form of another question, it was simply those three words at the top there – well why not?

For some the idea of being naked in public would be too horrifying to even consider for a second. In this day and age of mental health awareness, it seems crazy to want to add to the stress of getting through the day with nudity. Surely a recipe for meltdown, if ever I had heard of one.

Except that it isn’t, or at least it isn’t for me. I’m no full-on, hardcore naturist who must be starkers for each and every hour of the day. In fact, I’m not sure I really agree with being naked for longer than is felt is necessary. But at the beach, on soft white sand with warming sun and inviting ocean… now that is a time to be nude.

Now you’ll notice I’ve already mentioned a reason for not getting naked, and for some it is perfectly reasonable to think this. We are all wonderfully different and that is what makes the human race so diverse and incredible. And for some, being naked is simply something that happens between removing their day clothes and putting on their night clothes. And should it be required to change at the beach, then the large towel wrapped around the body is the necessary protocol here.

For me though, well, I just couldn’t be arsed with all that. Holding a towel up with one hand while I fumble around trying to get out of my trunks and into some underwear, all the while trying to dry off and prevent sand from infiltrating otherwise sandless clothes. That sounds like too much of a palaver to me.

And why can’t we be nude on the beach. It is the ideal place, surely? We all tend to keep to ourselves anyway, not wanting to give up our prime location while similtaneously wanting space around us. Quite for what I’m not entirely sure – Brits on beaches is quite comical – but this is regular behaviour that you can observe on any UK beach at any time of year.

So we all have this cordoned area around us, and we are all keeping out of each other’s business. We have our gazebos erected and wind breakers hammered into the sand, and generally speaking we are treating the area as our own land where trespassers will be shot without warning, then why on earth can we not experience that moment between day and night time clothing… extended?

For myself, the rhyme or reason isn’t really worth much more thought. It is something I enjoy. Not on behalf of others, and not for others. And certainly not because of others. But for me, the feeling of letting everything go, taking everything off and allowing myself to be myself, warts and all, is liberating. And there is no better feeling then shedding all the weight  of the world and fully enjoying the pleasure of being on a beach.

I’m not overly keen on my own body, it certainly isn’t a prime specimen – never was and never will be. But that isn’t the point. As I said, me being nude isn’t for others, it is for myself.

I’m not overly keen on looking at other people’s naked bodies, especially if they aren’t prime specimens either. But as I mentioned, that is not what it is about, and nor is it for anyone else.

Being naked is about me, my mind and the feeling of weightlessness and freedom that you just can’t experience doing anything else outside of NASA employment. To lay there and allow the sun to bathe me entirely in its warmth, to feel the breeze move over and around me, nothing is quite so relaxing.

Add to this a good book, a chilled bottle of Corona and maybe some music and headphones, and I have escaped into a whole other world.

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