Why you need to show up unfiltered

You know that camera angle where the lighting is rude, your posture is questionable, and somehow your under eye looks like you took a few shots to the face at Rumble boxing? Your first instinct? Delete. Banish. Pretend it never existed.

Now, what if I told you that same energy—the one that wants to crop, edit, and Facetune out all the “unflattering” bits—is showing up in your real life, too? That perfection-polishing impulse doesn’t just apply to selfies. We do it with our personalities, our emotions, our not-so-cute moments. We edit out our doubts, our anger, our quirks, and package ourselves into the most palatable, polished version possible.

But here’s the truth: the parts of yourself you want to hide are exactly where resilience is built.

Think of your favorite pop culture comeback stories. Demi getting her Golden Globe. Robert Downey Jr. rising from rock bottom to Iron Man status. Taylor Swift turning public scrutiny into a cultural empire. None of these arcs happened because they ignored the messy parts—they owned them, learned from them, and let them shape something stronger.

Resilience isn’t about being flawless—it’s about facing the flaws head-on and thriving anyway. That means embracing the unfiltered, unedited, unpolished parts of yourself. Your weird laugh? Keep it. Your overthinking? Work with it. Your ability to cry at the same rom-com every time? That’s heart, babe.

When we stop erasing the “bad” parts and start owning them, we build the kind of self-worth that doesn’t shatter at the first sign of trouble. So, next time you catch yourself cringing at an unflattering angle—literal or emotional—pause. Lean in. And remember: this is where resilience begins.