I have recently heard of the term, skin hunger. I was in a conversation about attraction and sexuality at school when this term was brought up. In this conversation, skin hunger was defined as the need to have physical contact with someone, which makes them feel protective and loved. It was my first time hearing this term and it made me think about me and my current relationship.

I realized that I do have skin hunger, at least with my current partner. Before I never felt the need to touch another person, even if this person was a family member. Hugs kind of made me nervous and actually gave me stress. It could have been that I did not want to feel close to these people or I already felt like I was close to them so physical contact was not necessary. However, once I got close enough to the someone, physical contact was not so nerve-racking and I actually appreciated a hug every once in awhile. And even with some special and close friends hugging became a daily routine and it actually made me feel happier and that last me throughout the entire day.

Then I started to go out with my current parent. We would hug every day, which made me slightly nervous for awhile and we would also hold hands which I was very conscious about. Eventually, I grew accustomed to those things and even came to enjoy them. From there our physical contact grew. When we sat down somewhere we would have our knees touching, we held hands in the car, and we would have our arms around each other. Now it is an accepted part of our relationship where we naturally gravitate to have some form of physical contact. I actually yearn for it and fortunately, I have a partner that also has the same feeling.

I could not say that we both started off with needing to have physcial contact. At least for me I can say, I did not. However, doing the routine of it over and over again got me immune to the nervous feeling I would get. I can actually get freaked out sometimes when I have not been with my partner for a long time but I quickly get accustomed to having that physcial contact again. I do get nervous about physcial contact with other people, but I get over it quicker now. And if you are the type to not like it all even something as a toe touching or finger touching is not to make your partner feel better or even get you guys on the path of increasing your physical contact. That toe touching could be like a tradition you guys do to let them know that you love and support them. It would mean the world to them and you could stay in your comfort zone. The point is to find the middle ground and eventually you might even grow to crave their skin.