Intimacy is about living as honest as you can to your feelings
I have just under 3 months remaining to complete a year of daily writings. Will I go deeper? Will I ensure that the most important things in the last 47 years get covered in this last of four seasons?
There are some things that are easier to write than others though people seem to respond most to honesty. It probably would not surprise anyone if I stated that from time to time I feel inclined to read or view some erotica.
I recently came across an advert for a Naked Retreat, ‘Get rid of all of your inhibitions’. Would I participate? Well, I would certainly want to rid myself of my inhibitions though I don’t feel inclined to join a naked retreat.I would find it too distracting.
I once went briefly naked while on a Boy’s Brigade (BB) camp in the south of France. That year 1982 was not a typical camp as we ended up a Club Med campsite. For a lot of us, it was the first sight of topless women on the beach. When we out for a swim we discovered that people went naked on their yachts. A few of us discovered a small enclave where everyone went naked. For a brief period, I went starkers.
What is the need to read or view erotica? Of course, it is a need for intimacy. Erotica can only bring alive our imaginations it doesn’t actually create intimacy.
So recognising my need I googled intimacy and I was surprised to find that sex can be part of it but not necessarily. Indeed most time sex is not part of it. Intimacy is about living as honest as you can to your feelings. “ I try to do that.” The key is, with who do you trust to be honest?
I must admit for me it is mostly in one to one conversations. I do a lot of coffee dates and I rarely do superficial. The other day there was the occasional exception. There was a group of us, maybe 8. We were talking about how easy or not it is to ask for help when we are experiencing stress in our lives. I talked around it and then decided to say I was experiencing quite a challenge in my life. The person beside me touched me as a way to to let me know they felt for me. It was very powerful to have been the recipient.
Yet again what may appear a weakness becomes a sign to point to a strength.
g