And why nudity is the move during winter 2020.
To my readers: I sat down tonight with no idea what was swirling in my dark subconscious or what would come out. It is 2 sleeps before Christmas. Anything could have surfaced. From the gut of my instinct, here is a piece about the utter ecstasy of being naked.
Being naked at home is pure joy.
With 2020, the year of the pandemic, tragically crashing to a close and chilly weather sweeping over Baltimore, there?s not much to do but cook and video chat friends and fight off seasonal depression.
?Stay at home for the holidays? is still a strong suggestion, if not an order, from every state governor and flashing highway signs.
Staying sane with so much catastrophe outside requires mindfulness and the ability to find joy in relaxing things indoors. Lately, I?ve discovered that joy in being unabashedly naked.
- Being naked improves work performance.
I?m grateful to have been able to work from home during the pandemic. I?m a software engineer so I vampire code 8 hours a day, and my bottom-style during work quickly spiraled from jeans to to sweatpants to underwear to bottomless as a glass of whiskey.
But not during zoom calls. I always put on pants for zoom calls. But I noticed, there was a positive correlation with stress and nudity. The less clothes I had on, the less stress I experienced.
With the low stress of briefs and braless tops came a clearer mind, improved ability to focus, and better work performance! I churn out my best work now settled in bed, bare skin soaking in my bedroom heater.
Research shows over 60% of employees are more productive with a casual style dress code. If statistics are that high, imagine what you can do without those tight jean seams and bra wires?
If you don?t have to go anywhere, don?t put on clothes.
2. Being naked has health benefits.
For years, I?d come home and explode into my house, rush into my room, and strip my top and bra off like they were on fire, frantic to stop that tightness from digging into my ribs? breathe. Finally.
Then I?d throw on a shirt or sweater but lately? I strip off everything and keep it that way. Gillian & OMalley can?t compete with being naked, but neither can any other form of clothing.
You?d think nakedness would cause anxiety, but actually the exact opposite. I feel more at peace and comfortable once I?m naked in my own house and feeling the tingle of the air relieves more stress than it causes.
Removing layers also creates the mental picture of ?removing a burden? and leaves me feeling spacious and free. In terms of spaciousness, nudity creates the space for free movement and emotion, a larger bubble in which to think and feel without rules or restrictions.
Being naked, even in your room to start, has physical health benefits such as healthier skin, better blood circulation, and higher intake of vitamin d (even through windows and not on a nudist beach:) which also improves skin health and uplifts your mood.
Sleeping naked is also a huge stress reliever and boosts your mental, physical, and sexual health. Losing the pajamas not only knocks you out faster and deeper, but stabilizes your mental health and improves your vaginal health. Your vagina deserves that shit.
3. Being naked boosts confidence.
Women today have so many body issues from religious repression to the ideal standard of beauty imposed on us by magazines, tv commercials, friends, family and society.
If we?re naked we get judged. I fell into that trap like a hungry mouse and refused to accept parts of myself for so long. I am too skinny. I have to gain weight. I have to look ?athletic? like the ideal woman. Thinking like that was toxic and so detrimental to my health, yet subtle enough that it crept into my brain unfettered.
Being naked and practicing non-judgement with myself was pivotal in uprooting those beliefs and learning to be confident again. To love myself again.
This study found that ?spending more time naked improved participants? self-esteem and decreased body image dissatisfaction? (8 Benefits of Sleeping Naked 2020).
Sexual Freedom Philosopher and a recent friend of mine, Nicolle Doublel reminded me with one of her recent posts on IG how much confidence and joy a true acceptance of the body allows you.
Even if you can?t bare it all in a lake, being naked alone at home will help you love yourself in a way you didn?t know you could. And that confidence, will be more damn sexy that anything you paint on your face.
4. Being naked helps you accept your body.
I grew up not knowing how to accept my body. I was ostracized and ?slut-shamed? for attracting other people?s partners and showing off my ass in jeans. I really liked my ass in jeans.
My high school was the evangelical Protestant Christian king of ?don?t show too many cm of shoulder or a board of traditional old white men will claim you?re distracting their sons from scholarly study. Bah. What a bunch of fucking twats (pronounced ?tw-aah-ts? like bats).
Protestant purity culture is largely responsible for body shaming women and repressing the normalcy of bare skin and nudeness. In contrast, US culture body shames women to fuel consumerism and each side blames the other for telling women lies. You know what? Body shame in any form hurts.
Being naked at home is an amazing way to shake off body shame and become comfortable with who you are.
Being naked can also be scary. I always wore foundation and blemish coverup as a teenager and was insecure about sex with the lights on, so simple nudity felt odd. Facing my fears was difficult but being comfortable with being naked went a long way towards removing my body insecurity and helped me accept myself for who I was: me + skin layer.
Nakedness also doesn?t have to be a sexual feeling. Like seriously, the first few times I hung around naked I thought I?d get horny every five minutes? by the air molecules. Hot air molecules. On the contrary, existing naked in my own space was nonsexual and liberating.
Nudity isn?t inherently sexual. We interpret nudity as sexual because as part of Western culture, that?s the only context we view nakedness in. Tribal cultures like the Amazonians or South Africans are routinely nude or semi-nude, and their lives aren?t one big fuckin? orgy.
They accept the human body and so can we.
Our bodies are so intricately beautiful. If we face those deep fears we may have about gazing at our own nudity, we will have to love ourselves. We are crafted with too much care and detail to cover up our radiance with a mask molded from a plethora of insecurities.
Being naked, cooking naked, and sleeping naked will both break down those emotional walls and allow you to know what it feels like to be comfortable in your own skin.
So go home. And go nude.