The Advocacy of Shirtless Living

Just a reminder: it hasn’t happened yet - I haven’t gotten any comments at all - but this isn’t the place to debate the appropriateness of being shirtless. I’m here to discuss my views on it, so take that shit elsewhere. Thanks! Seasonal hesitation sort of struck again today. It’s in the mid 70s, and I went and walked on the beach - not a problem: Drove shirtless - no problem: Entering businesses? I chickened out. I did, however, force myself to get gas shirtless: My hesitation entirely comes from being self-conscious around women. I generally don’t have issues around men, but I feel weird being shirtless around women's, and I don’t know why. It’s the next hurdle, I guess. Why is this important? It’s important to me, because I want to get over any shame issues that I may have about my body. I want to show myself off, because it helps my self-esteem. Not only that, as I have said, before, I think, as men, we should be able to. It is the ultimate in (non-toxic) masculinity. It helps ...

So it’s winter, and it sucks balls. Not be able to work on my shirtless confidence is driving me crazy. As stated previously, I am a longtime member of a Facebook group called Shirtless Lifestyle. Before I found the group, I thought I was the only person with this interest/borderline obsession. I found out that I absolutely wasn’t. There is a whole community devoted to the promotion of male shirtlessness and sharing experiences. The members range from guys who are reticent to be shirtless at all to guys who stay shirtless for days and enter a variety of businesses without shirts. I have received more support and validation from these guys that I can even describe. I enthusiastically recommend this group. One thing that is missing for me is a local shirtless buddy. None of the guys who are active in the group live near me, and I don’t know anyone else in my local area who share my interest. Which is where the ask comes in - if anyone is interested in being my local shirtless buddy, let ...

 I will preface this by saying that starting a shirtless journey is like coming out, in a way. It may not be something that one does just one time. For my part, I start over every spring, and the hesitation comes back. I feel seen, and nervous, and that my body shouldn't be displayed due to my current physical appearance. Here is my body: I have received much validation from the Shirtless Lifestyle group on Facebook, which has done wonders from my self-esteem.  Speaking of the group, they have a tagline: To look like the "confident shirtless guy", all you need to do is take off your shirt. It's really pretty simple. One thing that I try to realize is that most people simply don't care. They don't think about us as much as we think they do.  Another thing that fuels my hesitation is the attention and fear of rejection. I feel like it would be mortifying, even though I think that it's rude to comment on what someone is or isn't wearing. Things are easier...