My nudity does not define me.

My name is Steve and I don’t like wearing clothes.  While I identify as a naturist or a nudist, my state of dress does not define me.  Social non-sexual nudity is only one part of my life.  It is a significant part, but not the biggest part by any means.

Most of my nudity is in the privacy of my home.  I belong to a number of different online naturist communities and have several good naturist friends on these web-based platforms.  I sometimes attend online Zoom meetings with other naturists from around the world, if the time zone differences are suitable.  I have a handful of people near where I live who also share my enthusiasm for not wearing anything. I probably don’t see these people as much as I would like, but I always relish the times when we get together socially.  The main reason that we don’t get together more often is life.

Life gets in the way.  We all have busy lives, busy working or being involved in our broader communities.  Spending time with family and other social commitments outside the naturist sphere takes up a lot of time.  Making the time or planning to attend naturist events often takes effort, and many of us are willing to let others do the hard work and organise things.  I know I can be guilty of that.

In 2022, Emma and I travelled to the UK to visit family, and while we were there we took the opportunity to meet up with a few of our online naturist friends.  Most of these meetings were at a local pub or coffee shop and were an opportunity to meet people face-to-face, rather than an exercise in getting naked together.  While we all shared a preference for nudity, we also accept that wearing clothes makes enjoying a drink or a coffee in a local venue much less troublesome.  As much as I would like to see wearing nothing as a valid clothing choice while out and about, I am not convinced society is quite ready for that, yet.

The reality is that for all the naturists and nudists that we met face-to-face, nudity is a small part of their personality.  People are so much more than that one aspect of their life, and many of the people we met although not shy about admitting their naturist tendencies, would not be defined by that alone.

Some we met were just starting their journey, dipping their toe into naturism.  Some were well down the path of naturism and simply looking forward to their next tattoo.  Some were planning a big overseas excursion and some were just embarking on a higher profile role in promoting naturism.

We did manage to spend some time at a naturist venue, and it was great to meet up with some others I had spoken to online as well as the couple whom we had arranged to meet there.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time to visit some of the naturist beaches that were on our list, but hopefully, we will get there next time we venture over that way.   Getting to go to Nudefest or some of the other large naturist events held in the UK is still on the list and there are other naturist venues around the world that we would like to get to.

Perhaps one day we will do a grand tour of the naturist venues, although I may need to keep buying the lottery tickets to fund it.

Being based in New Zealand makes travel to these places more costly and logistically difficult, and visits to naturist venues around the world will likely be combined with other travel, including stopovers on the way to or from family visits.

There is also the increasingly problematic issue of the environmental cost of air travel in this ever-increasingly emission-aware society.  New Zealand is a long flight from anywhere and we must balance that with the desire to travel.

Even though I have met a few of my online naturist contacts face-to-face, and have chatted with some via Zoom or other similar platforms, there are far more that I have yet to have the privilege of meeting in person.

All of these contacts share naturism as a common thread in their lives, but all of them are so much more than simply nudists.  Married, single, gay, straight, trans, some are retired, many still working, some have beaten illness, some are living with it.  Some have partners who share their passion for clothes-free living, others engage in the community on their own.  Some travel to exotic places while others are less mobile.  Some enjoy the freedom of hiking naked on wilderness trails while others struggle to be naked in oppressive and restrictive communities.

We are all so much more than our practice of clothes-free living.  We are a cross-section of diversity and beliefs sharing a common interest.

Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common... Celebrate it every day.
– Winston Churchill

Thank you for reading and have a comfortable day.