These past few days I’ve been painting my bedroom to complete my dream of having a girly butterfly room. I can’t wait to see how it turns out as butterflies, to me, represent permanent positive change after life’s ugliness. Still, the whole painting thing has been quite a lesson. As I painted my living room and kitchen only a short time ago, I had already learned that it might be a good idea to tape the room rather than triple my work by having to clean up the paint mess. So, this time I did that. With each project I learn and grow as a painter, you know. What I learned from this bedroom painting project is that taping is fabulous and the paint edger tool might be my future mate because I love it so much BUT next time maybe I should do something to the effect of using a drop cloth so I’m not having to clean the floor for hours afterwards. A new lesson every day, I tell ya!

What does this have to do with nudism, you might ask? Good question! The obvious answer is to always paint nude so you don’t destroy your clothes. Trust me- this is a good lesson in and of itself. But the lesson from the painting has more applications than just that in the nudist world. Just as I’m constantly evolving in my expertise in painting, I’m also progressing in how to handle nudist issues. For someone with a well-used mouth (usually opened in the form of typing), I have much room for progressing in how to manage nudist issues.

Way back when, I was actually worse than I am now with diarrhea of the mouth via keyboard. If I thought it, I said it- and not always very tactfully. When I was younger I didn’t think about the damage that I could do or the reality that my big mouth can strategically do harm OR good. So that’s a lesson that I’ve had to learn. It’s kind of like that first painting lesson: use tape to prevent a much bigger issue. So now I try to think a little bit (kind of like tape for the mouth) before I speak publicly. I don’t always succeed because sometimes I hit a delicate issue that I don’t realize is a delicate issue, but I try.

These last few days I’ve had to learn the next lesson, equivalent to the lesson that maybe a drop-cloth is a good idea: watching my mouth via keyboard in private discussion areas. See, I always thought that the best way to get a group to see an issue is to just say it, especially if I’m with like- minded people who have the same goal. The reality is, the same decorum that I practice with public groups needs to be practiced with private groups, too. Why? Because not everyone is ready for harsh truths or new ideas that are different than theirs. Speaking things nicely has a better chance of helping people to see what I’m saying rather than getting them all hot and bothered about the way I said it.

This whole learning curve is partially basic PR and partially growing up. It’s hard to learn but each day I’m seeing what an important thing this is for me to learn. And it’s not just me- we all could learn from these little painting lessons. We all can learn to speak with respect and restraint. We all can be better people, better communicators, and better representatives of the organizations that we support. But… I can only glean my own painting lessons, I can’t force others to learn from them. Each person has their own painting lessons and will grow in the way that they need to. We, as fellow nudists, need to respect the lesson that each person is on and encourage them toward greater representation of their organization and nudists as a whole.

Tags: etiquette, learning, nude, nudism, painting