More than just luck.

Sometimes, readers of my blog or followers of my social media posts will respond, and my first reaction answer can sometimes come across as short and abrupt.

I have profiles on Twitter, Naturist Hub, Just Naturism, MeWe, Naturist Go, Nude Revolution, A Naturist World and the Barely Clubhouse.  Often I will post the same content across multiple platforms and sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to recall where comments and replies are posted.

On one occasion I posted across many platforms, an image of myself working from home, naked, outside in the sun.  One person responded that they thought I was lucky.  My response was simply that it wasn’t luck, but planning that allowed me to be where I was in my preferred clothing option.

The reader interpreted my reply as if I had taken some offence to his comment, and went to some lengths to apologise, to which I said there was no need, as no offence had been taken.

One of the reasons that I can enjoy working from home naked, is that my partner Emma and I bought the house that we are in, with privacy specifically in mind.

Yes, there are situations where luck and chance conspire to bring together the elements that make up a memorable experience, but we all have the power to make the most of our individual situations to enhance our level of comfort.

I have not always been in this position, and there have been many years of hard work with a young family and struggling to make ends meet.

While I have always had a yearning for more of a naked life than I was able to achieve in my previous relationship when my children were young, that was not the reason I decided to end the relationship.

I made a conscious decision to identify as a naturist back in 2011, well before the relationship ended, and while I decided not to be naked in front of my adult children or my grandchildren when they visited, I did spend more and more time sans garments.

In 2019 I decided to separate from my wife and move 520k (320 miles) north.  It was a big decision and a major upheaval.  I had done a lot of self-reflection and thought about what was important to me rather than trying to please everyone else. For me, it was a “do-over”, a chance to start afresh with a clean page and live my life according to my goals, less affected by the mistakes that I had made in the past.

From that point on, every decision about everything would be made through the lens of my now clearly defined sense of identity and my goals in life.  One of those goals was to be more involved in naturism and to aim to spend more time naked at home.  Decisions were a lot easier once I had clear outcomes in mind.  For every choice, I would ask myself, does this move me closer to, or further away from my goals?

When I first shifted to Tauranga, I didn’t know anyone, except for a few work contacts, and had no idea where would be a good place to live.   I found a room in a house in a nice private location, and although the two other flatmates knew I was a naturist, I kept my nakedness to times when they weren’t home.  I joined a local non-landed naturist group and started going to events that they organised.

After a short while, I met Emma, who had a positive attitude toward my naturism and while perhaps less adventurous, shared my liking for sun on skin.  We got on well and decided to spend more time together.  We started off living in a rental that was ok but lacked the privacy that I craved.  We both had the goal of living in our own place and not paying rent to cover someone else’s mortgage, so started looking at places within our budget, which improved once my separation settlement came through.

When Emma and I were looking at properties together, and we did look at a lot of places before deciding on the one we bought, we had a list of things that we wanted.  A private sunny space was high on the list.  There were plenty of places that were perhaps newer, had more space, or were more desirable in many other ways, but they were often overlooked, or not private enough outside.

When I post an image on social media of me working naked outside in a tranquil and private spot, some will undoubtedly comment that they see me as being lucky to be able to enjoy such things, however, I see it as simply enjoying the fruits of my efforts.  Rather than luck, we have made choices that allow us to be naked in our home whenever we want.  There have been compromises and sacrifices have been made to achieve what we have, but it is less about luck and more about knowing what you want.

“If you don't know where you want to go, then it doesn't matter which path you take.”  ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Thank you for reading, have a comfortable day.