A Fresh Introduction

I can’t believe how much my following on Instagram has grown recently and I’m beyond grateful, but it has always been my mission to highlight, through my blog, what you don’t see in posed pictures. So welcome to ‘We Only Get One Body’; an honest and open platform where I’m going to be sharing blog posts, vlogs, images and Q&As from your feedback, all about my experiences in life, the modelling industry, my journey to body confidence, self-love, health and style. Although, knowing me, I easily get distracted and carried away so perhaps something totally irrelevant will pop up here one day, I like to keep you on your toes!

In this post I want to talk about some struggles I’ve been having as of late with social media as a model on the smaller end of the ‘plus size’ scale.

Recently I’ve been experiencing some self-doubt, feelings of not being good or strong enough to stick it out in this industry. And it was just as I was having these feelings that I received this message “Anytime you have any moments of doubt, know that you’re an inspiration to sooo many”. Now, I’m really into my yoga and trusting the universe and for me this was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment, it was the sign that I needed to remind myself why I do what I do and to not give up, but to share instead.

I don’t tend to refer to myself as a ‘plus size’ model because I’m not – I’m curvy and I proudly own my loveable bits of chub. But it is the reality that ‘plus size’ is an industry term used for models above a UK size 12. Personally, I don’t know how it’s possible to pigeon-hole anyone in this day and age; we’re all part of a beautiful generation of self-expression and individuality and THANK GOD cos oh my days how zzz would it be for us all to be the same!

I’ve had at lot of negative Nancys getting at me on the social media-sphere for doing what I do as a job and not being ‘big enough’. It just makes me want to hit my head on a brick wall to be honest, because it just seems like for every step forward we take in body positivity, we also take a step back. Remember how we all want ‘plus’ to be equal? Well surely that goes for everything else in between too. I never dreamed that at school when I was yo-yo dieting and getting down about being fatter than all of the other girls (I was a UK size 12) that I would finally become body confident at a UK 14-16 only to be faced with insecurities again, but this time for not being big enough?!

The truth is that we’re all that slightly under-confident teenager we used to be at heart, and as women we really have to work on building each other up and accepting each other as we are, instead of taking our frustrations out on each other. These days on Instagram it’s so easy to feel down about yourself when you’re constantly seeing such beautiful images of women with amazing bodies and enviable confidence. But what people don’t say is that it’s also ok not to love what you see in the mirror, don’t beat yourself up for not being more confident. Instead of looking at yourself and seeing the physical changes you want to make, focus on centring yourself from the inside out, and that’s something I’m working on in order to not be so bothered or affected by what people write about me on social media.

I know it might come across as though it’s easy for me to say all of this when it is my job to get paid for how I look, but seeeriously guys I wrote the book on being an awkward ugly duckling. I had a growth spurt when I was basically 7, carried around puppy fat without the benefit of getting phenomenal tits afterwards, had braces, an out-of-contro monobrow that christened me with the nickname ‘monorail’ and leg splints from walking like a sort of uncoordinated, chubby T-Rex my whole life. The day I was signed by a modelling agency was a laughable occasion. But honestly to all of that I’m just eternally grateful for the sense of humour it left me with and the firm grounding in this easy-to-get-carried-away industry.

Much to my Mother’s dismay, there’s nothing that I’m not willing to be honest and to the point about, so if there’s anything you want to know, or would like to see on here, hit me up! Thanks so much for reading and if you liked it please show it to a friend that you think needs to read it too.

#WeOnlyGetOneBodyToLove

xx