Why wait till next year?

(Picture: Naturist campsite Le Sérignan Plage Nature)

Summer is nearly over in Ireland by now and most of our Irish followers will have enjoyed a naturist holiday this summer.

Some may be seasonal naturists: Irish people who only go naturist abroad for a vacation. Indeed, the weather plays an important role for naturism and with that sense of freedom and clothes-free lightness – isn’t that something you found incredibly liberating and enjoyable, something so truly great that it makes the heart go grim and despondent when thinking of the need to wait around eleven months in order to have that experience again??

It happened to me after my second naturist holiday: I remember standing on a French airport ready to hop on to a plane back to Dublin, feeling bewildered and looking with amazement at my own garments after a 14-day total clothes-free period. I still recall how my mind seemed to go wild, feeling that that clothing-mandatory world around me was not the real one, the one which made more sense and induced more authenticity, honesty and openness in human interactions.

Not sure why it took me as long as one year and two holidays to convince myself that it was a great regret to have to renounce naturism in my own country. Too great a pity. I had not realised that I was going to miss it that much, to the point that imagining myself in swimming attire again seemed more and more ridiculous, as if I were trying to hide my imperfections… I concluded that rather than going back to “normal”, I preferred “going forward to reasonable” and following my gut instinct, I started to search for like-minded people among whom it was normal and non-judgemental to be naked again.

When I was younger I could never fully enjoy going to a swimming pool or the seaside, I was too self-conscious and preoccupied about how bad I might have looked. Since this turn in my life, I just love swimming naked of course – and feel mentally healthier than ever. My perception of cold has changed: I used to find it impossible to be naked under 20 degrees and now I even swim outdoors from May to October in Ireland (I might need a little longer to extend it to all year round), and I happily participate in nude beach clean-ups in autumn and spring. My tolerance of air temperatures in the lower two digits has been reinforced to my own surprise. Of course, apart from outdoor naturism I find it very enjoyable to feel like a fish in its birthday suit when attending the many pool sessions Irish Naturist Association facilitates.

I understand not everybody is the same but… if you think it is a pity to have to wait till next year, why not put a remedy to it here and now? September has been declared the Irish swimming month so… I might see you around? 

Looking forward to your messages!!!