I met my husband of 34 yeas at GNI (Gay Naturists International) in 1992. Clearly, we liked being nude with others outdoors. In the early years of our relationship, we both were active in nudist activities - going to River's Edge (a clothing-optional resort a couple hours away from where we lived in Atlanta) for day trips or weekend camping, going to nude events in and around Atlanta, spending Thanksgiving at Paradise Lakes in Tampa with another Atlanta couple, rips to Maui and Little Beach, the periodic visit to Vancouver and the very enjoyable days spent on Wreck Beach, and spending a week or so for many summers at Cap d'Agde.
Over the years, my husband gradually "downsized" his interest in hanging out nude for a variety of reasons. It's his choice. I, however, have never lost my passion for being naked where possible and comfortable. Fortunately, like you and others who have commented here, this does not present a problem with our relationship. We learned decades ago that a healthy relationship (for us, at least) does not mean you're joined at the hip. In fact (again, for us), it's just the opposite - we like that we have separate interests that we pursue, along with a large number of common interests. It gives us something to talk about. Naturism is just one of those separate interests.
Thanks for sharing. You are in a very unusual situation. From my observation it seems that where one of a couple enjoys naturism while the other doesn't, it's almost always the female partner who is the reluctant one.
Thanks for writing this! Even as a couple that discovered naturism together and generally participates in the vast majority of things in this space together... this article still really resonated with us, especially as of late, where work and family and other obligations have been nagging at us from every which way.
In the past year or two, we've unfortunately had to cancel some naturist plans for a variety of reasons, and were also (really for the first time since discovering naturism) faced with challenges where one of us was able to attend something, and the other was not. Some of these decisions were simply because of circumstances outside of our control, and some were because one of us wasn't as interested as the other person in whatever the thing was (or, more accurately, whatever was required of us to get from point A to point B and back again--the closest naturist resorts, beaches, or events are at least many hours in the car away from us). We had to confront that and work through what it might look like when, something that we had always done together, would now occasionally only show up with two possible scenarios: we either didn't do it at all, or one of us did it alone.
This created an opportunity for us to really get on the same page again, open up communication, manage expectations, etc. Through that process we not only learned that certain things/events/locations appeal to one of us more (or less) than the other, but we also learned, more critically, that we don't *have* to do everything in this space together in order to enjoy ourselves, support one another, and carry on our mission to share our story with the world in the process. It was a pleasure to read this as a gentle reminder to ourselves as we navigate increasingly busy lives. Thanks very much for the insight.
This mirrors my relationship with my husband. I'm the naturist and he is not. He does allow my nudist social gatherings.
My partner is accepting but has no interest in participating. We've talked about it and both of us understand and accept each others reasoning.
I met my husband of 34 yeas at GNI (Gay Naturists International) in 1992. Clearly, we liked being nude with others outdoors. In the early years of our relationship, we both were active in nudist activities - going to River's Edge (a clothing-optional resort a couple hours away from where we lived in Atlanta) for day trips or weekend camping, going to nude events in and around Atlanta, spending Thanksgiving at Paradise Lakes in Tampa with another Atlanta couple, rips to Maui and Little Beach, the periodic visit to Vancouver and the very enjoyable days spent on Wreck Beach, and spending a week or so for many summers at Cap d'Agde.
Over the years, my husband gradually "downsized" his interest in hanging out nude for a variety of reasons. It's his choice. I, however, have never lost my passion for being naked where possible and comfortable. Fortunately, like you and others who have commented here, this does not present a problem with our relationship. We learned decades ago that a healthy relationship (for us, at least) does not mean you're joined at the hip. In fact (again, for us), it's just the opposite - we like that we have separate interests that we pursue, along with a large number of common interests. It gives us something to talk about. Naturism is just one of those separate interests.
Thanks for sharing. You are in a very unusual situation. From my observation it seems that where one of a couple enjoys naturism while the other doesn't, it's almost always the female partner who is the reluctant one.
Thanks for writing this! Even as a couple that discovered naturism together and generally participates in the vast majority of things in this space together... this article still really resonated with us, especially as of late, where work and family and other obligations have been nagging at us from every which way.
In the past year or two, we've unfortunately had to cancel some naturist plans for a variety of reasons, and were also (really for the first time since discovering naturism) faced with challenges where one of us was able to attend something, and the other was not. Some of these decisions were simply because of circumstances outside of our control, and some were because one of us wasn't as interested as the other person in whatever the thing was (or, more accurately, whatever was required of us to get from point A to point B and back again--the closest naturist resorts, beaches, or events are at least many hours in the car away from us). We had to confront that and work through what it might look like when, something that we had always done together, would now occasionally only show up with two possible scenarios: we either didn't do it at all, or one of us did it alone.
This created an opportunity for us to really get on the same page again, open up communication, manage expectations, etc. Through that process we not only learned that certain things/events/locations appeal to one of us more (or less) than the other, but we also learned, more critically, that we don't *have* to do everything in this space together in order to enjoy ourselves, support one another, and carry on our mission to share our story with the world in the process. It was a pleasure to read this as a gentle reminder to ourselves as we navigate increasingly busy lives. Thanks very much for the insight.