For the first time in my life, I used the communal showers at the gym this morning.



Let me back up a little. I posted on here a couple of months ago about the actual first time I used a communal shower, in high school. For a long time, it was also the last time because I got a boner and was shamed by my classmates. It was humiliating, but over the past few months I realized it was time to face my fear. I started doing some research and (almost too) many threads on this site helped me realize that showering in the open is a totally normal experience. They gave me the confidence to try it again, for the first time in over a decade.



Earlier this week I realized the time was now. I was going on a work trip out of town, getting on a plane and away from everyone I knew. I did some research and found a YMCA where I was going with gang showers and a decent day pass rate. I decided one morning of my trip I would face my fear.



I flew out Tuesday night. I didn't go the Y Wednesday morning. I didn't go to the Y Thursday morning. That left me this morning. I had one meeting around 11 a.m. and I type this now as I'm heading home. I decided last night I would go to the gym around 9 a.m., late enough to miss the morning rush, but with just enough time to workout, shower and get to my meeting.



Before I left the hotel this morning, I got ready for the gym. I checked out before I headed out--unshowered and not dressed for a work meeting, meaning I would have few other options to do that anywhere but the Y. I drove over, left my bags in my rental car except for one with my clothes, a towel and shower stuff. Checked in and hit the locker room. It was a little before 9, so my guys had already cleared out, but there were a good number of stragglers in there. I confirmed the showers were, in fact, pretty darn open. Most of the guys were walking around the locker room in some stage of dress. A few were fairly open and naked.



After a pretty good workout, I decided it was time. Can't lie: I was pretty nervous heading back to the locker room. Outside of girlfriends and doctors, I hadn't been naked in front of that many people over the last decade. Thankfully, there weren't a ton of guys around when I got back to my locker. I kind of needed that. I was down to my underwear pretty quick and decided it was go time. Made sure my towel was ready, made sure my shower stuff was ready and then I took of my compression shorts.



And it wasn't that bad! In fact, I walked to the showers just sort of hanging my towel in front of me. Nobody seemed to mind or care. When I go to the showers, I hung my towel on a hook in the drying area and headed in. There were three or four other guys in there, mostly older than me, but a range of ages. Everyone was minding his own business, doing his own thing. I picked out a shower head a couple away from everyone and just joined them. Pretty quickly it was all pretty normal, I guess. I was just taking a shower. It felt good. A guy even came in and took a shower head near mine because it was the best available space and it didn't bother me.



Afterwards, I dried off and walked back to my locker with my towel wrapped around my waist. I did drop it when I got to my locker--no towel dance for me. I got ready and was on my way to my meeting with plenty of time to spare.



Overall, it was a great experience. I think I need to keep trying it on work trips before I work up the courage to use an open shower in my area, but it felt good. Next time I'd like to use a Bradley pole.



Thank you all for the support and the encouragement your threads provide. Sorry this is so long.

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