So, I’ve been on this kick for a while now, trying to really see things, you know? Not just what’s spoon-fed to us. My little personal practice, I guess you could call it, is to peel back the layers on stuff, especially when it comes to what folks call ‘normal’ or ‘beautiful’. It started because I was just tired of the same old, same old. Every magazine, every ad, it felt like a repeat.
And that’s how I stumbled across Melanie Gaydos. Wasn’t actively searching for anything world-shattering. I was just doing my usual thing, browsing, trying to make sense of the images and stories floating around. Then, boom. There was this face, this person, that just didn’t fit any of the neat little boxes I was used to. My brain did a little stutter-step. Honestly, my first reaction was probably just pure surprise. It wasn’t the polished, predictable stuff that usually gets shoved in your face.
That surprise turned into curiosity pretty quick. I thought, okay, what’s the story here? So, I started to actually look. Not just glance, but properly look. I read articles, watched some interviews she did, saw her modeling work. This became my little project, my ‘practice’ for a bit. Just observing, thinking, trying to understand what I was seeing and what it meant, not just about her, but about, well, everything else I thought I knew.
And it was quite the process, let me tell you. I wasn’t taking notes like a student or anything, but I was definitely processing.
What I started to realize through this whole thing was a few key things:
- One: This whole idea of “beauty” we’re sold is incredibly narrow. Like, ridiculously narrow. It’s a script, and most of the world just reads from it without questioning.
- Two: Strength and confidence, the real stuff, it doesn’t need to shout. It doesn’t need to fit into anyone else’s mold. It just is. And that’s way more powerful than any airbrushed ad.
- Three: People are often uncomfortable with what’s different. It challenges them, makes them question their own ideas, and not everyone likes that.
Seeing her work, hearing her speak, it was like a reset button for my brain on some of these topics. It wasn’t about pity, not at all. It was more about seeing someone own their space, their uniqueness, in a world that constantly tries to make everyone the same. It really made me think about authenticity. All those influencers and celebrities talking about ‘being real’ – a lot of it started to sound like just noise after this. Like they were trying too hard. Here was someone who just was.
This whole “practice” didn’t make me an expert on fashion or beauty or anything like that. But it did change how I look at things. I got better at spotting what’s genuine and what’s just a performance. It’s like my internal BS detector got a serious upgrade. Now, when I see the same old “perfect” images, I don’t just accept them. I remember that there’s a whole universe of different out there, and it’s way more interesting.
So yeah, that was my little journey with that. It wasn’t some grand investigation, just me, trying to understand things a bit better. And sometimes, you stumble onto something, or someone, that really makes you open your eyes. That’s what happened here. It’s why I keep up with this “practice” of looking deeper. You never know what you’ll find. And usually, it’s something far more compelling than what’s on the surface.
