My Shirtless Journey, Continued, and Why Be Shirtless?

 Around my college years, I started dipping my toe into the shirtless water, mostly by driving, especially long distances. It was liberating, to say the least. It also instilled in me the thrill of seeing others drive shirtless.

Not just driving/riding, but other modes of transportation as well:

There isn't much to tell about me for several years, until I was around 30, when my interest in being shirtless in shops was piqued.

One evening, I was in my car, about to go into an Advance Auto Parts store. Through the window was a shirtless boy of probably around 18. He was tall and lanky and wearing a cap and tan pants, and I went into a trance. I wanted that guy, and I wanted to be that guy. I still remember it to this day (20 years ago, probably).

That gave me the courage to start trying.

I discovered that auto parts stores generally don't care if you're shirtless. So, that's what I did.

One memorable time was one day where I got the courage to go into an O'Reilly's Auto Parts, mainly because I saw two shirtless guys entering, so I was #3. A couple of minutes later, two shirtless guys drove up. The driver got out and started fumbling with a shirt. I was determined for him to see me, so I stepped outside. He threw his shirt into the car and came inside. #4. 

His shirtless passenger came in after that. #5. Out of six people in the store, five of us were shirtless. Later, I went to the Advance Auto down the street, and the same guy that was in the car was in there, and he was shirtless.

Another time, I found a fellow shirtless guy in the town I lived in at the time (https://shirtlessfreedom.blogspot.com/). He was mostly into shirtless sports, but I took him to an Auto Zone, and he was impressed.

This went on for a while, until I totally lost my nerve.

We can debate all day long if shirtlessness in public is appropriate, but we're not going to do that here. The purpose of this blog is to celebrate it and encourage it, and if people don't like it, well, they just don't, and that's their issue.

Why be shirtless? Because we're men. It's literally the only activity where I will claim male privilege. In my opinion, we should be able to go shirtless wherever we want. We should be able to do so without stupid comments from others. I don't understand why some people think it's a big deal.

I've moved to a new city near the beach, and I've started doing it again. It's accepted at the beach and in the shops and bars. We'll see what happens.

Another resource: the Shirtless Lifestyle group on Facebook. I've been a member on and off in it's various incarnations on Yahoo. They are extremely helpful. Check it out.