New and strugeling

[Krepta3000]

I am 26 years old, male, living with my parents, brother and sister. My family is not nudist/naturist, but I am, at least in opinion. Which is to say that I WANT to be naked and one with nature, I just haven't ever had any positive public nude experiences.

I live in Mesa, Az, and I really like being nude. But I am only able to be nude when I am by myself, I have a big hangup about being nude around others, or being around nude people. /infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

I need help.
Krepta.

[Krepta3000]

I am 26 years old, male, living with my parents, brother and sister. My family is not nudist/naturist, but I am, at least in opinion. Which is to say that I WANT to be naked and one with nature, I just haven't ever had any positive public nude experiences.

I live in Mesa, Az, and I really like being nude. But I am only able to be nude when I am by myself, I have a big hangup about being nude around others, or being around nude people. /infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

I need help.
Krepta.

The best thing to do is as I did, contact a nudist club or resort near you if there is one about visiting. Then go and plunge right in as I did. I went to the nudist club, undressed at my car and thought to myself, "Well, here goes". I very self-consciously walked out to the pool nude with my towel over my shoulders and very soon felt quite comfortable. No one stared or laughed. I went away from there hooked on social nudism and wishing I had tried it ages ago.

Don't put it off; don't sit in fear of being seen or seeing others nude. I have no doubt you will feel quite at ease very soon as I did. Well, actually I am still a little self-conscious about my lack of manhood, but that's me, and I'm learning to get over it. Whatever is holding you back--don't let it! Face your fear as I did, and you will conquer it as I did. To quote John F. Kennedy since he's the one I heard say it, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Don't let your fear stop you from doing what you want to do since there's nothing wrong with doing it. You will regret all your life not having enjoyed social nudism while you're young. I waited until I was 55, and oh how I regret all those wasted years of not enjoying social nudism and knowing the freedom of being nude outdoors without the fear of being arrested. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

[brainyguy9999]

Our situation sounds very similar. About 4 years ago I was 25 living at home with my mother and younger brother. My older sister had been married and had moved out long before. In high school I had carried a bad self-image of myself. I was ashamed of the way I looked In high school and because I was fairly overweight (210-220lbs, 5'7") I was ridiculed about it quite often. I selected to be in band mostly because I didn't want to have to shower in gym class (we had a choice of one or the other because for some reason they were both considered "Phys-Ed"). For a while it got so bad that I wouldn't go out to restaurants to eat with my family because I thought everyone in the dining room was looking at me, talking about me, and even laughing out loud at me.
After high school I went to a local college and lived at home. It wasn't until after I graduated from college that I began to feel better about myself and began to see myself as more acceptable. I had also decided to begin conquering my "fears". I tried tackling travelling to other places by myself, asking girls/women out even though I knew they would say "no", and my biggest fear --- being nude in front of others.
I had for years been a home nudist and had heard about resorts and nude beaches. I envied the people that could do that. So, I decided that I would conquer the fear of being nude in front of others and see if I was interested in social nudism in the same trip. So, I looked up the closest resort and made sure they allowed single males. Then I checked the weather forecast for the next few weeks (doesn't it usually happen that when you REALLY want to do something the weather won't cooperate?) and finally found a day that was going to be warm and at least partially sunny. I decided I was going to do it and I wouldn't let myself back out.
I started out that morning and thought about turning around all the way there (an hour drive). When I pulled in through the gate my heart was pounding, my hands were cold (it was 85F that day), and my fear was almost unbearable. But, I had told myself that no matter what, I was going to do this.
I passed a few nude people as I drove up to the office to check in but they didn't really register in my mind as real. The owner signed me in and I am sure he knew it was my first time. Although I tried to play it cool, my signature was a foreign semblance of English script and the answers to some of his questions seemed absurd to me as soon as they exited my mouth.
But, I signed in, parked my car in the parking lot, and stripped down. I didn't have to worry about an erection. A whole squad of Playboy centerfolds doing a line dance in front of me wouldn't have pierced my fear. So, I walked to the pool, found a lounge chair, and turned into a statue for half an hour.
After seeing people come into the pool area and leave, carry on conversations, swim, and do the usual stuff, I began to relax. I began to look around at the different people. They were all average, no stand-outs one way or the other. I started listening to the very normal conversations and even got the chance to chime in a couple of times when they were unable to think of a word or the name of a place. After a couple of hours, I was somewhat relaxed.

The first time I went, it was great. The next time was better. And each time I go, it seems to get better and better. I've been going for 4 years now and I can't wait until it warms up here in Tennessee so I can go again. Although I do have my own apartment now and am nude unless I have company or when I go outside.

I guess the bottom line is: "Just do it!" You only live once, and you don't know when that will come to an end. Call ahead to a resort and make sure they will take single males. Then, pick a day and go. Don't allow yourself to back out under any circumstance short of a family emergency or World War 3. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Good luck. I hope my experience helped.

bg

[Krepta3000]

Those were very helpfull replies, and I would like to elaborate and continue the conversation. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Most of my public nude experiences were very unpleasant, but only a few of them were really terrible. My friends and I have gone on hikes where they decided to do some skinny dipping, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So I just didn't look, it was very awkward.

Hangups, well, that is difficult to delv into, but here goes. I am fat, not just a little chubby, FAT, which means I have these things called stretch marks and stuff. I have sores and pimples all over the place, and, the most embarrassing thing I think, my Penis is deformed, slightly. I was circumcised as an infant, and as a result I experience painfull errections and my Penis bends slightly to the left. I have never seen an uncircumcised male in person, but I've seen enough pictures to get a good idea of how my penis probably would have been like had that circumcision NOT been performed.

As a result of my condition, I decided to find out exactly what circumcision was, because I had never been tought by my parents or school or ANYONE. Once I found out, I vowed to always and forever be totaly and completely against the circumcising of anyone who is not capable of making an adult, educated, decision about their own bodies. GRRR! And stuff.

I even put a ribbon campain logo on my desktop which said only "Genital Integrity", and when my dad saw it he darn near blew a gasket!! Geeze.

Anyway, back to hangups.... As a fat person and a person with many other strange qualities and personality quirks, I have always been picked on by others. This picking on always seemed to be worse in the showers, so, I begged my way out of it. I was not required to do phys ed in junior high or high school. Yay! So, my most negative nude experiences ended then and there, but the memory of the experiences combined with the taboo conditioning were a perfect recipe for FEAR OF PUBLIC NUDITY. With lots of echoeing in my head and stuff. Church Taboo sais that nudity, in any form other than with one's spouse, and only during the most sacred sexual relations between the married pair, is concidered indecent or even pornographic. Such is shuned, and must be abstained from, ignored, and various other words I can't think of.

So, I'm trying to break my conditioning, defeat my fear, and be free from this life long torment. Well, not really life long... When I was very little I was a very free little naked tike, but that wasn't really tollerated for long. Oh, sure, at first it's all cute and stuff, but eventualy it earned spankings and stern lectures and stuff. Ouch.

Anyway, as I said, I live at home with my family, and they are not exactly open to nudity or nudism, so, I don't do anything that might offend them in any way that they might be exposed to.

I have no car, and have only a learner's permit currently, so my ownly transportation is the Metro bus system, ugh!! It isn't very good at all here in the Phoenix Metro area in Arizona. I have no local nudist/naturist friends that I know of, and I am really needing some.

If I were to get out to a nudist/naturist place it would have to be some time this week or next week, after that I go back to work and school which takes up so much of my time that I don't even have time to get enough sleep every day. Ugh!

So, what I need, as a kickstart if you will, is someone living in my area who is willing to pick me up and provide a ride to a nudist/naturist place and perhaps introduce me to friends or aquantences.

I don't think I mentioned it, but, my family and I are LDS, so, nudism is definetely a big taboo among our group. I don't want to rock the boat with my family or church, so, I really want to be very secretive, at least for now, about all this.

My brother, a great deal younger than me, is about to go on a Mission to Knoxville, Tennessee. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif Hope he has a good time.

Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year, and other celebratory salutations and stuff. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

So, do you think I might find some young 20 somethings in my area by asking around on your board system? It would really help if I found someone to basicaly be my mentor, tutor, introducer, or whatever.

Well, thanks for your replies, hope to hear more from ya. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
Krepta.

[TXK NUDE]

Krepta, as a fellow "large" person, I understand your pain, and had some of the same fears, combined with religious, and personal complications. What I found about nudism, is that nudism is a chance not only to learn that you are different, but so is everyone else! This celebration of difference, and the realization that it is okay to be different, is sometimes the first step to healing some of those old wounds, and calming some of those nagging fears and hang-ups. It also opens up the eyes of others, seeing that large people are fun, interesting and sometimes even attractive. I hope you find that out first hand.

[Stevedaoust]

I've been to MANY nude camps, beaches,etc,etc and I can tell you that NOONE cares less about what you look like. PERIOD. GoTo www.aanr.com (http://www.aanr.com) then to CLUBS then to your state and find a place you can to OR GoTo www.amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com) or our major bookstore and order a book called WORLD GUIDE TO NUDE BEACHES AND RESORTS by Lee baxandall. It'll show you most of the places aorund the world for nude anything. As for the curve in your penis, it's common. Talk to your MALE Doctor URIOLOGIST he'll recommend procedures to undo the damage.
Steve

[NotBob13]

I'm fat, also. The thing that helped me relize that I'm not so hideously ugly that everyone stares at me, were women. There was a girl I had a crush on in high-school who was overwieght. Many of my girlfriends were overwieght. Everyone of them was Beautiful. Some of them turned out to be not so pretty on the inside. Most of them were fun to be alone with.
You say you've tried asking girls out, knowing you'd be turned down. Ask girls that aren't conventionally pretty. Many of them are flattered if nothing else. It may help to have someone close who understands.

[Angel]

Krepta says:

"Hangups, well, that is difficult to delv into, but here goes. I am fat, not just a little chubby, FAT, which means I have these things called stretch marks and stuff. I have sores and pimples all over the place, and, the most embarrassing thing I think, my Penis is deformed, slightly. I was circumcised as an infant, and as a result I experience painfull errections and my Penis bends slightly to the left. I have never seen an uncircumcised male in person, but I've seen enough pictures to get a good idea of how my penis probably would have been like had that circumcision NOT been performed."

Hey, Krepta, and welcome! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Your "hangups" are common. Don't feel the least bit freaky about it, ok? I'm 30 lbs overweight, and have my fair share of stretchmarks from having 3 kids. So what. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

On the subject of circumcision: my three kids are boys. The oldest was circumcised, no problem. The second was circumcised, lots of problems. It looked half-done, it took forever to heal, and as an infant he used to cry and cry when I tried to clean his genitalia. The third boy isn't circumcised. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif As someone else suggested, see your urologist for the pain issues, otherwise don't worry about it. *Lots* of men have curves and bends. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

As for the sores and pimples: try using a hypo-allergenic soap (like Dove Sensitive Skin) with a loofah sponge every time you bathe or shower. Learning how to properly exfoliate takes time, and it takes time for skin to heal from the existing damage, but within say 6 weeks, you should see a noticeable improvement. Don't scour, just use the loofah like you would a washcloth. If there's no improvement, see a dermitologist for help.

We ALL have pimples, warts, and scars - sometimes on the outside, sometimes on the inside. It's who you are on the *inside* that people will be interested in meeting.

You've taken a brave first step posting here! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Krepta3000]

Hi, and thanks for all the postitive posts. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I'll do whatever I can to get to a nudist place as soon as possible, but the transportation problem isn't going away. And I'm not gonna ask my parents to take me, oh heavens no. They'd blow a gasket.

As far as the dating scene goes, being a mormon AND 26 years old automaticaly places huge availability limits on potential dates. Oy. When I was growing up, I was overloaded with school work so much of the time, and struggeling so hard to get through school, that dating just wasn't something I could participate in. So, I never formed any relationships with girls beyond friend who listens well. (sp?) Anyway, I don't recall ever asking any girl for a date, or saying that I had, just that just about every girl or woman I ever knew already had a steady relationship with some other guy. I'm not the kind of person to try to break up relationships, and I doubt I'm attractive enough even if I were.

Attraction comes in many forms, not just physical, but even physical attraction has so many varieties that it is possible for me to be attractive to someone somewhere. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif I'm just not sure I'm attractive enough to those I'm attracted to for anything to work out. :<

Oh well, self esteem issues will clear up once I get into the nudism scene, at last, I'm sure. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Krepta.

[luvnaturism]

Actually there many LDS members who either practice naturism or are at least OK with those who do.

I'm not LDS myself, but one of the outstanding naturists sites that I enjoy visiting on the web is the Skinny-Dipper Connection. It's run by and for committed LDS members.

Check it out. http://www.ldssdc.info/

[Naked Bob 2]

I would suggest getting a car and just going out where you want to unless you are prevented from doing this.

[bertirolioliolo potatolioliololiolo]

Even having a car in the U.K. doesn't make it easy to be a young nudist !