After seeing the umpteenth (absolutely well-meant) comment “Lovely bodies” on a picture with naked bodies, I suddenly thought: “Is naturism really about the bodies?”
When I go to a naturist beach, resort, place, something somewhere, I like to meet people. Not too many, but real people. I know people have bodies – that bit becomes apparent to everyone somewhere in life.
The more bodies I’ve seen, the more I’ve become interested in the faces over those bodies. The people behind them, inside those bodies.
Perhaps I’m weird, because naturism is about being naked, right? Actually it’s only partly about that for me. It’s about being natural. Real. About the human being that someone is, not the person someone’s “supposed to be” according to the rules and regulations of fashion and “proper conduct”. As far as I’m concerned, a lot of those rules can be shoved to a place where the sun doesn’t shine. I’m leaving it up to your imagination where that might be, but a deep, dark cave would work in this case.
Bodies are good things to have, I entirely agree. They make up a big and the visible part of who we are. They let us move around and we recognise each other because of them. Either through ‘facial recognition’ or by body shape.
Bodies often tell us about the things its wearer has been through, by way of scars and marks, but the real deal is still inside that body. I’m not just my body. There’s more to me, and I’m sure there’s more to you as well.
Be a good buddy for your body. Also be a good person. Someone that people can say “lovely person” about, instead of “lovely body”.
thank you for that!
Thank you for letting me know this was worth the write-up. I suddenly had to put this out there. Here. Someplace.
You have been shared! Linked to it to my own blog
Thank you, Fred. 🙂
Interesting. When I put the website address (https://imnotdeadyet.life/2021/04/07/zjuzdme-on-that-bodies-thing) into the address field below the comment, the spam detector wouldn’t let me post. When I left the address field empty it would. It must not like the “.life” domain even though it is a legit ICANN domain intended for
“Wellness and health experts, charities, coaches & personal development enthusiasts, lifestyle bloggers, anyone who wants to share personal stories”
So I’ll just put my other site in instead.
Odd. They should get a .life!
Hello, that’s a great picture and you are right! That’s the whole point of naturism. It’s not the nudity it’s about acceptance. Acceptance of yourself and others. We are all just bodies but our bodies do not define who we are. It’s what we say, what we do that counts. It’s our minds, that’s what makes a difference. It is by our actions that we define who we are. Once we understand that then whether you’re tall or short, fat or thin, naked or clothed makes no odds. Being naked just shows you are not governed by the materialistic but by your strength of character. Now that’s got to be a better way to live!
I fully agree. Thank you for your comment, Roger.
I agree! For me showing that one is “not governed by the materialistic” is the piece that gets top billing.
I’ve a collection of orthopedic irregularities that combine to be “just severe enough that it’s disingenuous suggest that it goes largely unnoticed” when I take my shirt off. People would point, stare and more than a few times share their unsolicited opinions about my body. Then there was a smaller, but more strident group of people who insisted that I imagine the first group. Decades later multiple professionals confirmed that I’d never imagined anything but the strident group had. But I digress…..
Attending a nudist social was an eye-opening experience. I could take my shirt off without people obsessing over my torso! As you might imagine, I was hooked. Now any activity that has the words ‘nude’ or naked’ in it gets at least a once-over from me. Now if Covid would just go away…
Yes, exactly this. Nudists are so much more open-minded and accepting of the imperfect body. That’s probably because they have seen so many of them.
ppl say our eyes are the window to our soul but our faces are the preface to our life while our bodies are the chapters of our book. Maybe that is a silly way to think of things but..yeah
I really like that expression. Would you mind if I use it in one of my books?