This post was last Updated on June 28, 2020

We like to say that our first steps into nudism happened by accident. It’s a story we’ve probably already told a million times. More than a decade ago, Lins got a coupon saying “Spa for two” for her birthday. We got to choose between maybe 50 different wellness centers (we have quite a lot of those in Belgium). While browsing their websites, we noticed that they all looked different. Some large, some small, some private, some public, some far away and some nearby. There was one factor that really divided them: All the really nice ones had a no bathing suit policy.

first socially nude experience. Thanks to that coupon. If Melissa, Nathalie, and Carmen hadn’t given Lins that coupon, we may never have become nudists. Naked Wanderings may have never existed. We might still be in some office in Belgium. This was how we ended up at our. Thanks to that coupon. If Melissa, Nathalie, and Carmen hadn’t given Lins that coupon, we may never have become nudists. Naked Wanderings may have never existed. We might still be in some office in Belgium.

Is that really true?

Did such a small coincidence really change our lives?

We doubt it. It’s a fun story to tell, but in the end, it was us who decided to go to that particular spa. And not to one of the smaller ones where we could use a bathing suit. Or one of the private ones where there wouldn’t be any nude strangers around.

We decided to step out of our comfort zone and give social nudity a try. To follow our curiosity. Yet, when we stood in front of the gate, we were terrified. Are we REALLY going to do this? Taking off your clothes is just one small physical step. The mental change that comes with it is much more significant. We were about to step into a world that nobody else we knew (at least that’s what we thought back then) had ever experienced. And it did change our lives.

Bye-bye status, hello confidence

It’s in our nature to have a need for dominance. It’s the survival of the fittest. We want to have the biggest and we’re definitely not just talking about breasts and penises here. The choice of a specific type of car is often influenced by the cars our family members, friends, colleagues or neighbors have. Lots of people are in serious debt and spend a lot of time cleaning a house that is too big for them. They don’t need this, but they want it because it brings them status.

Penises (to bring them up anyway), tend to be quite a lot larger when talked about than they physically are. Women often buy their clothes one size too small, hoping that others would notice this when browsing through their closet. Or even just to set their own minds at ease. It’s perfectly possible to surround ourselves with so many gadgets and stories that our status automatically keeps increasing. But does that make us happier?

The more our status grows, the more time and money we need to invest to maintain the level, let alone make sure that it keeps increasing. Is that tremendous mortgage truly worth the size of that house? Are those worries at the end of the month worth the petrol consumption of your Hummer? Are those 16-hour workdays worth the fancy one week vacation in the Caribbean?

Have you ever wondered how people in India can be happy living in a caste system? Especially those living in one of the lower castes? Knowing that they can never in their whole life have the status someone from the higher caste gained just by being born in another family. Yet they can be happy. By taking away the possibility to be someone different than you are, also the desire goes away. And so does the fear to lose any newly gained status.

Something similar happens within nudism. By taking away our layers of protection, it doesn’t make much sense anymore to pretend that we look anything different than we actually do. At first, it can be a very daunting feeling, but soon it will also feel liberating. There is no status to lose anymore. Instead, you become confident. Yes, this is me, what you see is what you get. I have nothing to hide.

Welcome to a different world

We have a desire to fit in, to be part of a group. We love the idea that there are people like us. Involuntarily we’re often driven by the question “What do people like us do?”. When we come home after work, late in the evening, we eat microwave dinner. Because that’s what people who work a lot do. We prefer standing in traffic jams over taking public transport because that’s what people like us do. We buy those shoes, go to this movie and send our children to that school. Exactly, that’s what people like us do.

On the other end of the spectrum is a dream of breaking out. Often fueled by curiosity. At the counter of the supermarket, we peek at what the person in front of us has bought and wonder how our life would be if we had a fresh salad and smoked salmon tonight instead of something that smells like turkey and looks like mash potatoes. We wonder how it would be to quit our job and go traveling. We wonder what life would be without clothes.

Often, that glimpse into a different world evaporates when we walk through the door and stand once again in that same old traffic jam. This is our life as we’ve been living it for so long. It’s not difficult to dream, the difficulty is in pursuing those dreams. In stepping out of our comfort zone. The only way to get an answer to “what if” questions, is to go and find out. To make that salmon salad, to quit that job, to walk through the gate of that nudist resort.

You are not alone in this

There are almost 8 billion people in the world. Whatever mindblowing choice you’re planning to make or seemingly impossible idea you might have, it’s silly to think that you’re the first person who ever considered this. Long before Isaac Newton was born, someone else must have wondered why we stick to the ground and not float away. Newton just happened to solve the puzzle. Jeff Bezos could have spent the rest of his life in a traffic jam, wondering how things would be if he could just stay at home and sell stuff online. A couple of cars behind him would be Elon Musk, worrying about how much his next stop at the petrol station would cost him this time. If only my car used less expensive energy…

We’re throwing with big names here, people who have changed the world by stepping out of their comfort zone and by actually searching for an answer to their “what if” question. You don’t need to be Isaac or Jeff or Elon to start with nudism. You can be just Nick or Lins or You. The good thing is that you don’t have to invest all your money or risk being expelled for some weird gravity theory.

Once you get to that step, you’ll quickly realize that you’re definitely not alone in this. In Europe and North America, it’s estimated that about 5% of the people have engaged in social nudity in one way or another. That’s a lot of people. No matter which nudist place you plan to visit, there will be others like you. Who discovered the joys of being nude. And who might have gone through the same mental steps as you did.

Nudists stick together

Although 5% on such a large scale is a significant amount of people, it’s still a small minority. That explains why the world isn’t as nude friendly as we’d like it to be. The good thing about minorities is that they stick together. They share a common ground which they can’t share with too many others. This often results in endless complaints about how we can’t be nude in our garden on a warm Sunday afternoon because the neighbors might be shocked. But it also results in organizations, clubs, and federations. Striving to spread our ideas and make the world a little bit more comfortable for those who prefer to not wear any clothes.

Have you ever noticed how motorcyclists greet each other with their foot, without even knowing who the other driver is? Or how tennis players can go to whatever club and strike up a conversation? Having a common ground eliminates the need for having to know someone before you start talking. The added advantage of not wearing any artificial layers that might cover (or fake) your background, enables you to meet wonderful people who you otherwise might have never met.

comfort of not having to wear a wet bathing suit to the confidence we gained from eliminating the need for status. From the tickling wind passing by our nude bodies to the liberation of stepping out of our comfort zone. From the wonderful places we discovered on our search for nude-friendly spots, to the amazing people we met at those places.

That is why we love nudism, and why you will too. We enjoy many different factors of nudism, from theof not having to wear a wet bathing suit to the confidence we gained from eliminating the need for status. From the tickling wind passing by our nude bodies to the liberation of stepping out of our comfort zone. From the wonderful places we discovered on our search for nude-friendly spots, to the amazing people we met at those places.That is why we love nudism, and why you will too.