What's perfect?
I have been a nudist for a long time. However, things changed after my open heart surgery. I no longer seemed to have the same body. I gained weight. Got a scar the length of my chest.
It's been a struggle accepting this new body and scars. It wasn't easy to look in the mirror and see the changes. It still isn't. I got man boobs from the pre surgery steroids.
Now I don't go truly naked. I usually "Donald Duck" it. Wearing a t-shirt gives me the confidence to be naked. It's funny. I don't care about some one seeing my dick, but do care if they see the scars. The questions about my scars make it difficult not to feel embarrassed.
Am I perfect? No.
Am I ok with not having that perfect body? No, but I get better everyday. I am thankful to be alive and know that my scars are my history and my present.
Self acceptance is never easy.
I do understand, many scars here both outside and in but all makes up who I am. Maybe what I am going to share with you may be of some help to you. In our resort alone we have several women, including our owner who have had breast cancer and the surgeries and scars from this. We also have one of our older members who has gone through heart surgery and as well the scars that looks like road maps on his chest. He carries many scars but again makes him who he is. We are nudist and there are no judgements. One member who on the outside looks like someone who is a weight lifter. I found out last year when he was sharing with a few of us here that he also has had heart surgery were they had to go into his chest after a near death car accident and move his heart back into place where it should be. All of these people some like me long time nudist, a couple not so long. I have never heard anybody approach them asking questions of what happened, and most of the time People don't even notice unless it's pointed out. Being a nudist to me is not about what a person looks like on the outside and being comfortable in our own skin and with who we are. When I invite people to come visit one of the things that I always will say is there are no Barbies and Kens here just real people.
Personally I don't have scars, so I don't know how it must feel.
My body is slightly overweight, so I guess that isn't really a problem.
What I do have is the wrong genitals by being a woman in a man's body. I am a Transsexual Woman.
I accept myself and I'm happy, but had received much rejection, laughter and pity from others, so I hide my body from view.
After learning nudists claim to accept everybody for who they are and not how they look I joined this site to see if I could find friendship, together with becoming a "direct source" for those who may have questions about who we Transsexuals really are.
So far I've found very nice people here, and that allows me to proudly show my body without fear of rejection.
Real nudists are awesome people!
Your question is a good one, a topic for extensive examination of definitions and philosophies. Your answer to your question "Am I perfect" is highly debatable. In the West we have unfortunately devolved to very shallow notions of perfection--idealized body in this case. Yours is a body that works, congrats. I have been musing on this very topic as I face a course of medical treatment that may result in some disfigurement. I can grow or not. In your case I hope you can appreciate your body as it is, and enjoy it nude. I've noticed that after an initial jolt at something like a scar on a nude person, I look past it the same way I got over the jolt of looking at nude bodies in general when I first became a social nudist.
Wow I think there are some REALLY GOOD observations - points of view on this thread. One's that I haven't considered too. I am reminded that we can't always see the scars a person bares - some are emotional and not physical in nature. For me, I do like the notion that scars and my journey helps tell my story. Perhaps a story that has good and bad in it, but for me - it's how you choose to deal with it in the end.
Among my fellow nudists, in general, I have found an outpouring of friendship and acceptance. My experience has been that those people accept me period - end of story. That nasty "self acceptance" isn't always easy, but having your nudist friends accept you unconditionally - that teaches me to like "me" and I do. All of the posts on this so far, remind me - nudists are good people! Compassionate, understanding, and accepting souls.
And for me, what I have always thought about perfection in terms of myself, I am IMPERFECTLY PERFECT!
I too have had heart surgery and have a scar from it. While it was healing and all red, I was self conscious about it but after it healed I came to terms with it. The scar is part of who I am. Everyone has something that wish they can improve. As for me, there would be a few things on the list before the scar.
I too belong to the zipper club, have man boobs and not much to show any place else, but other than on here from fax nudist, I have never had any negative comments. Only one time did anyone comment on my zipper and that was from another man that just said, welcome to the club.
As we get older, our bodies change. Worse is that as we get older we quite often have medical issues and injury that change us forever. When I was in the army I had a well toned body but after I retired, despite vigilance on my part, old scars and injuries seemed to become more visible. Then I had two open-heart surgeries, and those long scars did change my body. No matter what I did, my waste-line grew for the first time in my life. And then I had to use a cane which I often tried to hide in photos. So I cannot do anything about my looks but keep on going and people just have to accept me as I am.