“I am not my genes.”
Society often labels individuals by how they present themselves. The girl who spends late nights at the library is defined by her GPA; the boy who is always experimenting with new facial cleansers is defined by his acne, and the girl struggling with her body image is defined by her weight.
However, what if instead of individuals hiding their insecurities and feeling ashamed of who they are, they opened up and admitted “yeah, I’m insecure about this; but it’s not what defines me,” and with that, the What I Be Project was born.
The mastermind behind this brilliant idea, Steve Rosenfield, travels across the country to high schools, colleges, and even the occasional yoga studio to help people see how beautiful they truly are.
He holds one-on-one sessions in which he invites individuals to open up to him about their most prominent insecurity.
He’ll then write that insecurity on a visible part of one’s body, most commonly the face or arms, and photograph them, adding a caption to the picture such as “I am not my weight,” or “I am not my acne.”
“I am not my reputation.”
Throughout this project, he’s encountered numerous individuals who will come clean to him about what keeps them up at night. Whether it’s their scars, anxiety, depression, body image, or jealousy, Rosenfield will work with these individuals to help them become comfortable in their own skin.
He confesses that twelve years ago, he wasn’t at a happy place in life. He decided that instead of masking his insecurities, he had to be bold and share them.
As he began brimming with self-love, he wanted to see if he could help strangers do exactly what he did with himself.
Rosenfield has dedicated the last three and a half years since the project’s initial launch to helping others.
To contact Ganesh and find out more about the project, visit http://www.whatibeproject.com/
“I am not my appearance.”