As I turn 32 today, I decided I want to share my Naked Truth… hence the idea of doing a ‘naked’ shoot. Boy it took some balls to do this shoot, but I didn’t feel awkward at all during the shoot because I felt very comfortable with my body. These photos represent everything I stand for – body positivity, confidence and self-love. And I hope that you will find that peace and balance within yourself one day too.
I recently launched a campaign, What’s Your Naked Truth, on Rock The Naked Truth to encourage YOU to find the courage to open up about your story / struggle / challenge. There are amazing prizes to be won, so I urge you to participate – looking forward to reading your stories 🙂
So what is my Naked Truth?
To be honest, I mulled over this for a while. I’ve pretty much been telling my story about my struggles with body image and eating disorders over the last 2+ years since RTNT was founded. What else is there that I have not shared?
The time when I considered doing plastic surgery for my eyes because I wanted double eyelids? The time when I was thinking of flying out to Bangkok to do liposuction on my thighs? These are all superficial though.
Is there a raw truth about myself? There is. And it’s something that I learnt about myself after a few people shared their observations with me.
That I have an extreme personality bordering on compulsive, which in hindsight, is a contributing factor towards my eating disorder struggles previously. See, when I do something, it’s all or nothing. Once I make up my mind on doing something big, it’s either I go hard or go home.
When I was 18, I channelled all of this energy into wanting to lose weight and wanting to be skinny. Initially I just wanted to lose 5kg and then I got sucked into it and spiralled downwards from there.
Now, I’ve channelled this extremity into the sport of triathlon. I mean, it is just a hobby but it pretty much governs my life. My schedule is planned around my training, my social life has taken a back seat and holidays are extensions after races.
Don’t get me wrong – I like my life the way it is now and I just want to give it my best during this period where I can commit the most. (I mean, once I get married and have kids and all, triathlon is definitely gonna drop down the priority list.)
But this can be a dangerous behaviour if channelled into the wrong things, like my eating disorders. Thus it is important to identify it and place it on the right path. Initially I didn’t want to admit it, but now that I recognise it, I hope to work on it over time and be less compulsive so as to achieve a more balanced personality; otherwise I might fall prey to misplaced obsessions.
As they always say, everything in moderation. Too much or too little of something may not always be good.
This is my Naked Truth, raw and real. I hope you find the strength to share yours.
For now, here are some BTS shots from my shoot:
Photos by the incredible Ivan Joshua Loh of Pigs Can Fly Photography
