What about Recreation???????????? My rant about naturism.
August 14 2009 at 7:43 PM
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In a recent email exchange between Boyd and I where we was discussing skin conditions that was spawn by a website he read. I mentioned that I can no longer use my skin condition as an excuse for naturism because of personal experimentation that I've done to see how my body reacts to different things. (in this case, certain foods)
He replied, "And don't you DARE use just your skin as a reason for naturism!"
It's funny he should say that because if it wasn't for my skin condition I wouldn't have even thought of involvement in social naturism. See, I became frustrated with trying to get my prescribed tan. I'm not one to just lie around to get my tan, I was looking for a way to combine tanning with something to keep me moving around when I came across nude recreation. I must note that at the time I did have some secluded acreage that I did use, but bordom had set in with what I could do there. A person can only go on so many nude hikes before he wants a change of scenery.
Nude recreation, I have come to believe for many clubs is really false advertisement. It certainly is for the places in Missouri that I have gone to. It would more acurately be called nude relaxation, because that is what I've found. So yes, I'm still frustrated. I have made it to Rock Haven Lodge in Tn where I did in fact find recreation. However, I was there on a weekend when they was offering a volleyball clinic to work on members skills for the comming up superbowl that year, so I'm not sure if that was the norm for that club or just a once in awhile deal. I have tried repeatedly to try to drum up some movement to put actual recreation into nude recreation only to find that I stand alone on the volleyball court. Where at one club hasn't had the net up in several years due to it's unuse. This really saddens me. When I read the history of naturism and what the thought process was at the beginning, it really makes me wish I could have been apart of it then. But what started as a health culture, isn't even reconisable in todays nudist culture. The only thing that I see todays nudist has in common with the days of old, is the nudity. And that frustrates me to no end, and I believe this to be a MAJOR cause for the slow growth and low attendence among young people. (along with cost) Think about it, why drive an hour and pay $20-$40 per day visit to do the exact same thing that you can at your appartment pool, only difference is you can be clothing free? Now that there are tan though swimwear, the naturist resort (of nude relaxation) provides absolutely no bang for the buck. It's a total waste of money. That's a real hard bullet for a young person or young family to swallow. Even harder for an athletic type that would welcome the chance to play nude only to find there is nothing there for him and nobody interested in playing.
At this point it doesn't really matter if nudists even try to attract the athletic and/or young people, because why should they come back? It's pretty boring playing volley when there is only 1-4 people total on the sand.
Ok middle age folks and other people that the teens and twenties would refer to as ole foggies. Stop whining and complaining about the slow or non existant growth within naturism, get off your rears and provide an atmosphere worthy of the health concious, athletic and young people.
I need nude sunbathing for the teatment of my skin condition, but I need my naturism to be doing something active.
Sincerly,
One Humble but Physically Active Naked Dude
Re: What about Recreation???????????? My rant about naturism.
August 15 2009, 6:04 AM
Daniel,
I hope that you didn't take that wrong! I was not trying to bully you, and I do realize your skin condition helped lead you to naturism, and if I hurt you, I'm sorry. That was meant as a friendly jab. But your point about the lack of activity was well taken. I'm glad you brought that up because I saw the same thing!
We went to one resort for a while in North Carolina that had all these games available, but the only one they played was water volleyball. That meant if you wanted to play volleyball, you had to wait certain hours of the day to take the pool. If you wanted to swim, you had to at the edge of the pool, but best wait until the hour is up for the volleyball players to finnish.
What did the volleyball players do after the game? Laid around drinking beer.
There were so many "beached whales" there that I couldn't stand looking at them. I had to get out and take some walks around the resort. Between drinking beer all day and smoking cigarettes, the only thing in common as you said was the nudity. The rest was a teenage nightmare! I saw a few teens there, but they looked like they wanted to be somewhere else. And most of them dressed like it too, literally. Only one or two nude teens, the rest were clothed, all standing around looking miserable. Where is mom and dad? They were one of the beached whales.
I was saddened by the way things looked, but at the time, we were not in a position to do anything. We were casual visitors there ourselves. If we were actual long term members, we may have been able to start something and make it stick.
I have not been exactly the heavy sport type, but I do like to take long walks and keep busy. I do enough sitting around at home as it is. Especially when you are limited to where you can go nude, and I am fortunate enough to take my nudity beyond average norm and get by with it...so far.
What you may want to do is put up a volleyball sign up and start a team. Invite what friends you do have to the resort for some nude volleyball. (I know that can get frustrating too.) Does that club have a calendar you can access and find out their activity list? It may be that they are in need of a volleyball leader there. Start filling the calendar for more activities or find out what exists already.
You may want to contact AANR East about the success of youth camp and see about getting one started out in the midwest. That is very successful and helped many young people into naturism. And they are activity minded. They can keep you quite busy!
It may mean some serious travel, but if your kids are still into naturism, maybe they can come to the summer event next year. I'm not sure where they will have it, and they do NOT advertise this on line for security reasons. So you have to go through there snake trail to get the information. Start with AANR and they will contact you. They are VERY SECURITY conscious when it comes to their kids, but for a good reason.
The CNC leadership was blessed to have two girls that were a strong part of the youth camps here to baby sit the kids for us when we were having our meeting. Of course we paid them, but they were excellent and had a great time. The teens we met that were a part of the youth camp were very well adjusted, had good leadership and great public speaking skills. It was as if they had gone to college and taken leadership courses. So we have seen the benefits of this summer camp.
CBG and I were listening to two girls speak on behalf of the teens about their summer camp and we were impressed!
So there is activity going on out here, just need to plug in, be a part, and make it happen in your area! Don't be too frustrated, but frustrated enough to do something.
"Daniel,
I hope that you didn't take that wrong! I was not trying to bully you, and I do realize your skin condition helped lead you to naturism, and if I hurt you, I'm sorry. That was meant as a friendly jab."
No offence was taken. I took it as you meant it. However, it did stir up a frustation that I've had with social naturism since the get go. Most specifically at my nearest club.
The beached whale is really more than I can take. I admit to wanting to lead a few of them by the nose rings with a lead rope out into the horse shoe pit just to get them to move around some. The cartoon movie "WALL-E" is a perfect example of what nudists are headed towards (or in some cases, became) The people in that movie had become so lazy that they had to look on the screen in front of them to do anything, even talking to their friend which is right beside them. At one point one lady got knocked off her lounge and noticed a huge pool, she said, "We have a pool? I didn't know we had a pool." Her next few comments was along the lines of "Wow, look at all of this." She lived her whole life as a beached whale just like everyone around her and she never knew all that was available to her. That's sad, really sad. How is todays nudist culture any different than that fictional story? I'd be hard pressed to point to examples for some nudists. Some are doing great, yet there is a whole lot that is the real world expression of WALL-E.
Naturism is about body acceptence, which is great. However, by advertising naturism to be about body acceptence it has also became our libility. Now read this carefully. I really don't care if someone is anerexic or 700lbs, if they get up and keep busy they are doing good in my book (as long as they exercise frequently in moderation) but I can't stand a beached whale. Different people will define body acceptence differently. To me it means accepting who you are and how you look, facing that image in the mirror and say this is me TODAY. Accept what you see, but you don't have to stay there. You can and should make improvments. In order to make an improvement you have to accept the fact that something can be improved. But the beached whale has not accepted anything, hasn't looked in the mirror, doesn't even know what he looks like. However, the beached whale analogy is not a good one when describing some nudists because a beached whale knows he's beached and is dieing. The whale didn't intend to become beached as some nudists do, but he just got too close to the shore while (can you imagine?) exercising. Whales rarely become beached. You see beached nudists all the time. What got it's start as a health culture has become an anti-health culture. That really upsets me.
This is a topic of concern that I've been contemplating for a while as I plan for CNR (CO4Life Naturist Resort) and write the business plan. Of course I'll have an outdoor hottub and swimming pool (as well as indoor hottub for the winter season), but I've been trying to think of activities that people would actually _get_up_ and do. Two of my goals for CNR are to promote the benefits of social nudity and lower the average age of resort attendees. To be able to be naked at home is one thing - and I applaud those that do. It's another thing to express your openness and acceptance of the human body in its natually nude state around other people.
Today's youth are just as curious about things and kids were 20, 40, 60, or 80 years ago. They've just become more lazy about it, as the rest of us have in this drive-thru have-it-now society. It has to be presented to them in an interesting way to grab their attention. It needs to an activity that they might otherwise do for some sort of familiarity to the new ideas and thoughts being presented to them. Then it activities could expand and grow to keep their attention. Their attention span isn't all that long. Maybe there could be something to help them talk to each other rather than just stand or sit and text the person right next to them.
Wow, Daniel. You were right. I could tell when I started getting drowsier and not paying attention to what I was typing. I am proof-reading this post before I send it.
Thx 4 da noat,
BrianB
"If we were meant to be naked, we would have been born that way."
Welcome to the forum! Nice to see new people here, and if you have been here before, welcome back! (Shows how my memory works)(beached memory)
I hope your venture for a naturist resort will be successful. Where will it be? As for "average" young ages, I'm not sure how many clubs there are out there or how many of them have age limits, but I do know there are many clubs that are family oriented clubs, which goes from pregnant to older than mud. So focus on Family naturism, and you pretty much got a good plan. Check with AANR on examples of what they look for in a family oriented club.
Proof reading is something very few people do. Why proof read when you can prove you can "twitter"?
I do a lot of proof reading. Content I'm still working on, but I try to spell correctly and use some form of grammar.
Brians venture in tentitive for south west Missouri. What he means by lowering the average age of nudists is building a place that caters toward the younger crowd most specifically. Basicly providing adminities that children, teens and twenty somethings would enjoy to give them a reason to want to try nude recreation. As opposed to catering to the 40's and up crowd that seems to be the status quo currently.
I understand what you are saying about the lack of activities or at least the lack of people participating in activities. I look at recreation a little differently, I think.
Rather than thinking of recreation as some activity I do and get exercise from, I look at it as "re-creation". This would be a time for being renewed. This can and often does involve activities but can, for me be a session talking to someone or alone with God.
I see what your saying, but it begs the question. Does recreation mean recreational sports or does it mean a "session talking to someone or alone with God" I don't think recreation could possibly mean both because those are very likely total opposite definitions. (Come to think about it we do have a few of those within the english language, but I digress.) The definition that you gave for recreation I can't grasp. What does that have in common with the more common uses of that same word? Time alone with God does re-create, but it does not rec-re-ate.
Recreation involves the mental and spiritual - not just the physical and it is very much in the eye of the beholder. For some physical exercise is not recreation at all but simply another form or work. For others being sedentary for any length of time is mentally and spiritually distressing and therefore not recreational at all. For some nude recreation can be a simple walk in the woods while to others the social aspect is a vital part of the mix. I think another key factor is that most folks (including young folks) are "sheeple" and tend to "go along with the crowd" whether it's soaking in the nudist soup or joining in on a volleyball game. Some folks are born leaders and will draw a crowd with them wherever they go. If you can motivate the leaders than most of the battle is done in promoting a particular activity or event - it's not enough to just make the equipment available or offer discounts.
""...it's not enough to just make the equipment available or offer discounts. "
That was what I was saying, at this one club, where teens were present and so were the equipment, but not someone to take it to the next level.
boyd"
Right, and that is the main issue with my complaint. The nearest nudist resort to me has a grass vollyball court. I have never seen a net up on it. Why? Because it was never used anyway. This goes back a couple of years before my first visit until anyone can remember the net being up. Even then it was only used prior to the instalation of the pool and pool deck, when that happened the beached whales moved in because the members thought that they as a club had "arrived". LOL, yeah right! I'm sure this is played over and over and over in resorts all across America, where this movement that started as a health and fitness culture has become anything but. Where are the folks that played volleyball before the pool was put in? Where are the guys that cleared out the nature trails? Where are you who set up the horse shoe pits? Don't tell me you have become a beached whale yourself. If not, where did you go? Why did you loose heart after all your work before me? Did you have the same issues that I am today? Or did you just burn out trying to do it all by yourself? Tell me, what has happened to this health culture that I read about in naturist history? Or is it that you just don't care anymore? Let them all get beached and die, that's what they want to do anyway. Sad, it's a sad time for this forgotten health culture.
Kinda harsh, but I really do wonder just what happened that caused such a huge change from what WAS, to what IS. Don't think I'm just here to complain, because I'm not going to stop there. I have been trying to do something about it, but now I have a resolve to work harder and yet harder to restore health to what once was a health culture. Naturists really should take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves, "If I wasn't already a nudist, looking at what I am, would I want to become one?" I can say yes, but I'm not what is common at my nearest resort or the one that Boyd spoke of. However, if I was a beached whale looking into that mirror, my answer wouldn't just be no, but H*** NO! Now I understand that I have a different perspective because I already had a health and fitness drive in me before I read the first words about nude recreation, and the health culture that it used to be. Why should I think that what started out as a health culture should remain true to it's roots? Hmph! I mean really, why the huge change? Is this change really helping the culture? NO it isn't, but I present to you that it is a major liability. Complain all you want about the average age of nudists getting older and older, but if you don't get up and be the poster child of what you want to attract into the naturist lifestyle your complaints fall on deaf ears and the average age of the social nudist will soon be well into retirement age. Then who will carry it on into the next generation? Again, I'm being harsh but statistically you know I'm right. If I'm wrong then the average age of the nudist would be getting younger and younger, but we all know that is not the case. I present unto you that if we all as a group put the beer and cigerettes down got up put up the volleyball net and rounded up a couple of teams on a regular basis got the blood flowing, flushed out the toxins that has accumulated in all of our bodies then when a young person comes to visit they will see life and something that they want to be apart of on a frequent basis. But as it is now, all they see is dieing people so why should they return for even a second visit?
...but you can't make him play." It seems these "problems" with naturism only reflect the trends in our culture, that de-emphasizes spiritual and physical recreation in favor of computer games and playing with other people's money. (That's an oversimplification but I believe it's more true than many of us would like to admit.)
However, I've got to take issue with the "beached whales" comments. I'm quite the opposite of overweight, but I've been close friends with some of those "beached whales," and you can't say of them all that they only lack self-discipline. Many of them would like to be other than they are but can't, for various reasons. Lots of allergy and psychotropic drugs have the very unfortunate side effect of weight gain, sometimes massive. Also, many of their supposed "health problems" parallel the health problems in minorities, and it's been suggested that this is mostly due to prejudice and discrimination and active hatred directed toward them--enough to stress out any of us!
We cannot know just how much guilt, shame, and other internal stresses they suffer, even if they try to explain it to us. Any of us who have been discriminated against in any way--and that certainly includes us Christian naturists--should at least try to empathize with them.
I previously said in my second post in this strip,
"Naturism is about body acceptence, which is great. However, by advertising naturism to be about body acceptence it has also became our libility. Now read this carefully. I really don't care if someone is anerexic or 700lbs, if they get up and keep busy they are doing good in my book (as long as they exercise frequently in moderation) but I can't stand a beached whale. Different people will define body acceptence differently. To me it means accepting who you are and how you look, facing that image in the mirror and say this is me TODAY. Accept what you see, but you don't have to stay there. You can and should make improvments. In order to make an improvement you have to accept the fact that something can be improved. But the beached whale has not accepted anything, hasn't looked in the mirror, doesn't even know what he looks like. However, the beached whale analogy is not a good one when describing some nudists because a beached whale knows he's beached and is dieing. The whale didn't intend to become beached as some nudists do, but he just got too close to the shore while (can you imagine?) exercising. Whales rarely become beached. You see beached nudists all the time. What got it's start as a health culture has become an anti-health culture. That really upsets me."
Please notice that my use of "beached whale" has nothing to do with their weight, but everything to do with lack of activity. Jochanaan, I've seen some beached whales that would make you look obeese while at the same time saw someone that was very active but was overweight. I have no issue with anyone no matter their size if they get up and move around and get the blood flowing. My complaint is about those that won't do anything except 12 once curls otherwise are just "beached" on their lounge.
Jochanaan commented on side effects of overcoming physical problems. I noticed that people who quit smoking also has a sudden change in weight. So while they are trying to combat one health problem, it immediately subjects them to another problem
Fibromyalgia is a painful problem that the more they try to excersize to fight weight gain, the more they hurt and joints hurt much worse. It also adds to depression, which in turn adds more weight which adds to the pain that started to whole cycle.
BTW, lets drop the use of "beached whale". Though beached whales come in many sizes and shapes, it is a bit derogatory and I was the one who started the comment, so I will end it.
Our bodies and minds are broken, in God's perspective, so we do broken things, even when we try to fix them or do the right thing. Even our prayers to God (who accepts them graciously) are broken.
So what we need to do is focus on God's will for these people and see where God wants us to serve. In this case, getting to know these people who will in turn invite you to a sport activity you did not know existed (too focused on the empty grass) or you can invite them to play.
At avalon, there is a large sand pit for volleyball. what do I see there? Sand castles and various sand art. My little girl and I played in the sand while we were there. Of course, the focus that weekend was the Music Fest, not volleyball. So I cannot say there is no volleyball going on there. I just know that it was not going on during the times I visit.
We do play volleyball in the swimming pool that does have a net across it. But it is always spontaneous, and with a beach ball of some kind. Nothing official and score is kept by somebody there I guess...maybe.
Then as quickly as it starts, it ends with everyone going on to something else. At least there is activity. And there was a large number of younger people that weekend, though every time I visited Avalon (three whole times) there was a decent mix. I think it had a lot to do with the efforts of AANR-East youth program and camp.
It also has a lot to do with what is going on at the time. I hate to say it, but volleyball on the sand or grass is a lot hotter and harder on the feet than in a pool, especially if you are already overweight. So maybe you need to start a pool volleyball!
"I hate to say it, but volleyball on the sand or grass is a lot hotter and harder on the feet than in a pool, especially if you are already overweight. So maybe you need to start a pool volleyball!"
That's the one and only activity that is actually put to use there IF you can get enough people to put their beers down long enough to make up two teams. There's been times where there were about 20 able and healthy bodies around and it was hard to get 4 in the pool for a round of volley. In such a circumstance it would be alot easier to take to the grass or sand to play because it is so hard to move around in the water. There's been a couple of times that I've walked up to a couple that looked like they lived at the fitness center (while in the process of trying to round up a couple of teams so those that want to play can) and asked if they'd like to join, only to be told, "No thanks, we've already exercised today." Although this couple looks like they would be ready to play a pick up game at any moment I get more action out of people that have a little extra around their midsection. Now this couple isn't the norm for the nudist community, I understand that, but it makes you wonder, is their fitness program so tight that they can't afford a pickup game of water volley? If so they are taking it waaay to seriously. Needless to say I don't even bother to ask this couple directly anymore but go ask people that don't as fit as them instead because my breath is less often wasted on overweight people.
Forward thinking naturist venue owners would do well to remind themselves that naturism fully realized is to promote good health in the body we claim to be so eager to affirm.
It is bad for business and morally wrong to be "reactive", that is to simply supply what people ask for, rather than to have a carefully thought-out plan to incentivise, promote and offer healthy choices. That is being "proactive" and is in fact the original naturism we claim to follow.
Now someone with a deeply ingrained habit of making poor food and lifestyle choices (smoking, excess alcohol, sedentary behavior) could feel intimidated by an invitation to a full-tilt high speed game on the basketball court, volleyball court, etc, but might be able to participate in sustained physical activity at a slower pace. Not that they should stop there, but simply use gentle walking, swimming and games such as petanque as a catalyst to start down the path toward physical fitness.
I am not addressing those who don't want to make a change.
I know that nudist park owners need paying guests. Fit and fitness-bound naturists are the heart of true naturism, but to be honest, if it weren't for the folks who simply come for afternoon sun and nighttime bingo, the resort might not survive to the next summer for anyone to enjoy. But I don't think things are so bad that we have to accommodate excessive beer drinking, neither should we allow smoking all over the place.
If social naturism can't come up with a business model that that provides both a place and organized events for promoting good health, then we might as well shut down all the resorts and just be back yard nudists.
Actually, I would agree by saying that time spent alone with God, is time well spent in re-creation. We come away from the experience a new creature every time. Every time we come to God, be it to ask forgivenness or ask for his blessing or show guidance and direction, we are different. We are changed. We have been forgiven, blessed, guided, etc. To me, this is being cr-created. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Cor 5:17) Even if we've spent our time by ourselves or with others, we're not the same as we were ten minutes ago or five hours ago no matter how little we've changed. Something about us is different. We've changed.
It may just be semantics, but nonetheless, it's what the word means to each of you (us).
"If we were meant to be naked, we would have been born that way."
