People try to "dumb you down" when they feel inferior with themselves. I have struggled with body issues my whole life. At 16 I was told I needed to "work on my body" and needed a nose job. Campaigns and print jobs later, I'm the same person; with the same insecurities. A billboard doesn't change anything. What changes is your outlook. I love the negative feedback I receive. I feed off it. It doesn't define me, it makes me want to strive do better...and prove them wrong. If you think I'm too thin, you don't see me working out 6 days a week. If you think I'm dumb, you don't know the books I read. If you think I don't have a voice, why the fuck are you reading my blog? With social media, it's an easy platform for people to criticize behind the anonymity of their computer. I accepted that. I have a public Instagram, I sign model releases for all my photo shoots, and I have this blog. I know what comes from that "territory". I opened my life to it all. ...But at the end of the day, I am only human. Naturally, we forget the complements we receive, but remember the criticism. I'm a work in progress. At the end of the day I am true to myself, and really that's all that matters.
