Welcome back new and old people!
I state "new and old" since we have now approached 2016, so for those of you who are new to my blog, hello and welcome! And to those of you who are familiar with me and my blog, welcome and thank you so much for coming back! 2015 was such a crazy year for my "Skin Transformation
Journey." I never would have thought I'd come this far in it and still
be trekking along. It has been a very long journey, a year to
the date believe it or not. My very first post on this blog was posted exactly one year ago today on January 6, 2015 and it was a brief little introduction of who I was and the purpose of creating this blog. I have decided to go back and take a look at that post and reflect on it (my reflections will be in the bolded font). I have included the entire post below as well as the original link here if you'd like to check it out!
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“A little introduction...”
Hello there,
A little about myself?
My
name is Jessica Glynn and my birthday is on June 9th, 1995 which makes
me legal in Canada (woot woot!) and a Gemini (yikes). I am in my second
year of university and I am currently a full-time student and working at
McDonald's on the side (hey, you gotta start somewhere). Let's see..
what else can I tell you guys.....
I
absolutely LOVE YouTube and have been watching beauty-related videos
for probably 8 years now? AND I'm actually obsessed with Instagram. To
be honest, I could probably spend hours and hours on both of those
social media sites.
Yes, yes, and yes. This is all still pretty much the same. My name hasn't changed, was still born on the 9th of June, and I am still a Gemini. I am also still a full-time student, only difference is I'm in my third year now in university. I do still work at McDonald's, part-time, on the side and l o v e watching YouTube videos (especially the beauty related ones). Still obsessed with Instagram, for those of you who already know me, that won't be a surprise to you ;) I do still spend hours and hours on social media websites which I'm not exactly proud of but hey, we all have our flaws!
But
yeah, like I said, the name's Glynn and welcome to my own personal blog
related to my "Skin's Journey." About 3 months ago I posted a collage
comprised of three pictures of my natural skin on my Instagram.
At first, this was a very hard picture for me to upload for two reasons:
1. At that time I hated the way my natural skin looked and it made me feel alienated
2. I did not know how my friends and family that follow me would react to such a thing
Jessica, Jessica, Jessica... where the heck was your damn confidence back then!? Your skin doesn't even look that bad! I won't lie to you though, I hated the way my natural skin looked and I was sick of seeing all these people on Instagram posting these overly edited/filtered photos so I decided to take the plunge. Posted the damn thing.
Eventually I brought up enough courage and just posted the damn thing. The caption read:
Alright
let's be real for a second. Yes, this is my skin freshly cleansed,
toned, and moisturized. This is it. This is what it looks like without
any make-up, filters, photoshopping effects, or whatever else you can
use nowadays to change the way you look. (Some days are better, some
days are worse) I thought about posting these pictures for two reasons.
One, to show that no one is perfect and two, to learn to be fucking
comfortable in your own damn skin (even on public social media sites).
Yes I have redness, visible pores, and visible post-acne scarring. So
fucking what? Honestly I hear so many people complaining and worrying
over stuff like that (myself included) but who the fuck cares, you know?
As long as you're comfortable and accepting with what God gave you, WHO
CARES!! And if you're not accepting and grateful with what God has
given you then you need to reevaluate your shit. (This took an
unexpected-religious approach which was not what I intended.) Let's get
back on topic. This is me, this is who I am, and I honestly (and I do
mean honestly), could care less about what others think of me; redness,
pores, scarring, n' all. And if I want to wear foundation and concealer
to cover it up some days or in Instagram pictures then that's what I'm
going to fucking do. If that bothers you then please excuse yourself by
unfollowing me or not associating with me anymore. As long as I keep
myself healthy and happy, the rest will eventually fall into play.
Anyway, I apologize if some of you found this annoying or preachy but if
you did you really shouldn't have read on up until now.. lol. In short,
love what God gave you and fuck what everyone else says or thinks.
Don't be afraid to show the world who you really fucking are. Again, I
apologize for the length and any crudeness that may have been
"unnecessary." #loveyourself
I
remember re-reading the caption over and over again to make sure there
were no spelling mistakes and that everything I needed to say was
said. Even today, I'm pretty proud of that caption. A lot of truth went into it and that caption was one of my proudest moments of 2015. I was so glad to finally show people the real me, unedited, not filtered, just me. And the feedback that I received sent me over the moon. Of course after it was posted my nerves got the best of me because you never know what people are going to say. However, I was shocked to see so many genuine (in my mind anyway) and positive words of encouragement.
I poured my
heart and soul into the rather lengthy and at times crude caption and to
my surprise received tons of positive feedback:
It was the feedback that I received that
pushed me to create this blog. Basically this blog will provide
information, feedback, advice, tips, tricks, etc. all things skincare
(and make-up too) as well as pictures of my own skin's progress. I also
have a YouTube channel that will soon go up and I will add links and
what not onto the blog as well.
I do believe that this blog has provided you all with tons of information, feedback, advice, tips, and tricks in regards to skincare (as well as some make-up too!). I invited you along my journey of 52 weeks (32 of which were documented) of my progress using the Banish Acne Scars system as well as other products from their brand. I've replied to comments stating my opinions and advice to those of who who have commented. The YouTube channel was a bit of let down for myself and others I'm sure. Making videos for YouTube is a hard task and is definitely not as easy as it looks (as I learned that first hand). I was able to upload two videos in regards to my progress and hoped to upload more but it just wasn't completed. I do hope to upload some more for you this year in 2016. I was thinking of uploading a couple videos to go along with some of the posts that I've posted throughout this year since I know not everyone enjoyed reading about it and would rather watch and listen to me discuss it.
Stay tuned for my next blog post and take care,
Glynn
"Once you've accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you."
George R. R. Martin
This is also something I have continued to do on every single blog post that has been posted this year, which is to add in a few words of encouragement and motivation to the end of each post. These quotes can be found on many of the popular "quote" websites that are out there on the internet. I wanted this quote in particular to be the very first motivational quote because it is one that resonates with me and one that I think everyone should live by. Martin states, "Once you've accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you." I don't know about you, but whenever I hear that quote, it's as if this huge flow of confidence just surges through my entire body and mind. A little deep for such a small quote, I know. But if you think about it, it does make sense. I'll give you an example: I personally think and know I have a big forehead, I usually call it a five-head to be honest. My forehead used to bug the crap out of me in my teenage years, but it wasn't until I actually accepted the fact that this is the size of my forehead and there is nothing I can do to change it (apart from cosmetic surgery and what not) but I didn't want to take that route. God created my forehead a little bigger and if that was his plan than that is that. I don't want to get too religious here, but I think you are born exactly the way you should be born. Once you are able to accept that, you will start to see how beautiful you really are. And yes, it's true not everyone will find you attractive and that is o k a y. We were not put on this earth to please everybody. As long as you are able to accept the person you are (flaws and all), no one can bring you down because they have nothing to bring you down with. If someone were to tell me that I have a big forehead, I would agree and say "well yeah, no shit." Then that person doesn't really have much to say afterwards. People target weaknesses and vulnerability because they want to get a rise out of you, but if you've already accepted your weaknesses/vulnerability, no rise will come from their words. I hope that made sense to all of you reading this. I really didn't mean for it to get all preach-y, just my opinion on the matter.
Now that my reflection is done, I sit here trying to figure out how to wrap all of this up. I'll start by wishing you all a happy and healthy new year filled with happiness, laughter, joy, and even hardships and sadness. Before you think I'm a complete and total bitch for wishing hardships and sadness in your 2016, hear me out first. If you do not go through any hardships or struggles within your life, you aren't really experiencing life the way it should be experienced. I will leave you with a quote from the Rocky Balboa movie which puts a lot of this into perspective.
Rocky tells his son, "The world ain’t all
sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will
beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.
You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard
you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.
How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is
done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what
you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing
fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or
anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!"
Stay tuned for my next blog post and take care,
Glynn
"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings."
William Blake
