What's the challenge?
To walk around New York wearing only my bikini.
What are you afraid of?
Criticism and feeling extremely uncomfortable.
How was the experience?
A couple weeks ago I was at Union Square and I had an encounter with this guy that moves around NY "spreading love." Suddenly, he asked me to take my clothes off and face my fear. I took my sweater off and that's it, I couldn't keep going. I was extremely self-conscious thinking about 100 reasons why I just couldn't take my clothes off even though I knew it was the perfect opportunity to face a spontaneous fear right there. For two weeks I thought about that moment everyday and kept making excuses in my mind not to do it. I thought I was afraid of criticism, until I realized that no one will ever criticize me as harsh as I criticize myself, and that is extremely sad. That moment, I decided to ignore every possible negative thought I could have about my body, go back to Union Square where this started and walk around feeling confident about myself! At first, it was super intimidating since I was the only one in a bikini, but then, I cleared my mind and got to enjoy the beautiful weather. People actually started embracing my initiative and my bravery - something I was not expecting! My biggest inspiration to do it was the thought that no one is truly perfect, but we are all beautiful just the way we are and if we learn to love ourselves we will inspire others to do the same.
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