Learn Photoshop In 30 Seconds

Ladies and Gentlemen….

I present to you….. a ticking time bomb.

I don’t have the patience, nor heart to write this blog right now.  But I’ve got to get this out.  My hope is that every parent, every sibling who has a younger sister (or brother for that fact- boys are just as high at risk as girls), or any person who has a friend that is incredibly insecure, shares this blog.

As most of you know, I spent nearly 3 years in the trenches developing and running a program for teenage girls called Kamp Konfidence, out in Australia.  I’ve seen and heard it all-  Times have changed from back in the day when I was in high school.  And although I and my fellow leaders had the same pressures of trying to fit in, and feel worthy, we did not have the issue of social media looming over our heads.  In fact, I believe this is why the educational system has not gotten up to speed with incorporating the appropriate curriculum (such as Kamp Konfidence) into junior high and high schools, because us adults haven’t really grasped the full impact social media is having on young people’s lives.

Today I came across an app that absolutely ripped my bleeding heart from my chest.  I literally became a photoshop expert in a matter of 30 seconds.  Below, you will find before and after photos that I created using an app (which I will not name because I don’t want this shit virus spreading any further than it already has).

The insane part of this little experiment, is that I used to look at these untouched photos I took with a best friend of mine last August, and see beauty.  Now seeing them next to this 30 second app hack wannabe photoshop job, it blatantly draws out all of the shit society deems as “aged”.  I don’t feel as “fresh”.  And the craziest part of it all?  I LOVE MYSELF!  I KNOW beauty is from within.  I’m beautiful because I’m a goddamn GOOD person.  Not because my eyes are shaped like tasty almonds, and my nose like a little button you just wanna squeeze.

But imagine a 14, 12, or even 11 year old girl who is scrolling across social media with ZERO level of self awareness and no idea what self talk is (yet).  How is she going to feel about herself, when someone as Konfident as I am, can look at these side by side and feel negativity run through my veins?  Despite consciously KNOWING it’s not real-

This app allows you to ‘stretch’, slim (makes your face thinner), cover acne/freckles, change tone, smooth (basically airbrush), and finishes off with INSANE filters that give your photos a look of something that just came out of freeze frame scene of The King of Thrones.

Unless you actively are balls deep in the study of the impact ads and media play in our lives, and have your awareness switched onto it 24/7, these 1,000’s of ads we see on a daily basis, wreck havoc on our subconscious.  The mind is all powerful, and for most of us, is something we hardly look into in terms of how it actually works.  That being, how we create beliefs about ourselves, and how powerful our subconscious mind is.

Now, for us women born in the 1990’s and above, great news.  We are already semi scared, and most of us scared.  We ALL have this blueprint belief that we are meant to look like the photo on the left hand side (minus the third one down… screwed that one up lol. it is KILLING my OCD hahahaha!).    However, if from an early age we were brought up without seeing ads repeatedly of what success and beauty looks like, ……………….. you know what?  I’m done writing this.

I’m not feeling it.  AT ALL.  Most of you don’t need me to spell it out.  Please talk to your friends, kids, partner about this.  With apps giving people the ability to photoshop their “selfies” in under 30 seconds with zero skills whatsoever, we are going to see more and more of this ‘flawless’ fake, unachievable world.

If you are going to keep it real, and know that everyone else is waiting for someone else to go first, start using this hashtag.  And if you do post photoshopped photos (which I’m sure at some point in the future I’ll be on the cover of some magazine with RuPaul, and I know they’ll photoshop that shit! lolololol), at the very least take the vow to make a disclaimer.

#therealness

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