Sinful Sunday: Nourishing Nudes!

The clocks went back last night, which means it’s officially THAT time of year. You know the one I mean? When you look out of the window at 4.30pm to find it’s already dark, and each morning seems to bring with it a slightly more menacing chill in the air. When the sad remnants of those joyous piles of crunchy autumn leaves lie plastered to the pavement by sleeting rain, and you feel the damp clinging to your skin and clothes as you scurry down the street, breath billowing out in front of you.

In a normal year, we’d be looking right now to the small, simple comforts – the baggy jumpers, hot chocolates, toasted teacakes, and favourite movies – to sustain us through winter’s first biting salvo. In 2020, with its Covid lockdowns and its election anxiety and – oh God – impending no-deal Brexit, those things feel even more essential than ever.

That’s one of the reasons why I found myself in Berlin this week. With a sister and nephew to visit there, I try to get across at least once a year, but really they were just a pretext this time. Because alongside the jumpers and the teacakes, solo travel is very much one of my comforts. The destination is a huge bonus, of course, especially when it’s a city as awesome as Berlin, but the mindless process of getting from A to B is often hugely satisfying in itself, as is the cloak of anonymity provided by the hotel room at the end of a journey.

On my first afternoon in Berlin, I spent a couple of hours lounging naked on the comfortable double bed. I slept for a bit, I masturbated, and in between those activities I snapped a few casual nudes. There was a full-width mirror alongside the bed, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to pose in front of it, camera in hand. I didn’t try to make the photos themselves too fancy. Instead I just shot what I saw in the mirror, tweeted a couple of the better images, and put my phone away.

It was only a couple of days later on the plane home, when I was thinking about all the different ways in which the trip had been relaxing – had been just what I needed really – that my mind drifted back to that 20-minute session. It occurred to me that at a time when pleasure is in short supply, and we all face the prospect of cold dark days and nights inside, doing something that actively makes me feel good about my body is really just another form of nourishing self-care.

In winter – all bundled up and sedentary – it’s all too easy to lose touch with what I like about my physical appearance, and with the things that make me feel sexy. Taking, sharing, posting, and even just looking at nudes is a way to combat that, just as drinking hot chocolate is a way to banish the bone-deep chill that follows you inside after a stampy, splashy walk in the rain.

Over the last 48 hours, I’ve stripped off and snapped some nudes on a couple more occasions. None of the photos I ended up with are particularly arty or special – they’re just shots where I think my body looks nice, which right now is enough to trigger a little jolt of happiness. I highly recommend that you try it!

I thought I’d share a few of those nothing-special photos here today. I expect there will be plenty more to come over the next few weeks and months!