Health and wellness is a critical aspect of our lives. However, how is something so seemingly beneficial and essential, extremely hard to maintain? Jaclyn Hill’s new series on YouTube, “Jaclyn’s Journey,” is relatable, transparent, and inspiring to many young women.
Jaclyn Hill is a popular American youtuber, specializing in beauty and cosmetics, who also regularly posts clothing hauls and snack ideas. Jaclyn has 5.72 million followers, owns her own cosmetics brand, and has operated multiple collaborations with celebrities.
However, life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine for Hill. The influencer has faced her fair share of hardships. In 2018, Jaclyn suffered a messy divorce and, in 2019, Jaclyn’s lipstick launch failed because of contamination in some products. Since the lipstick scandal, Jaclyn proclaimed that she’s let her health deteriorate.
After watching all the recent episodes of “Jaclyn’s Journey,” I insist it’s very much worth the watch. Every Monday, she offers fans a glimpse of her efforts to get healthier. Jaclyn has credited her previous health decline to excessive drinking from her struggles.
In her first video, “I’m Changing My Life,” she is excited to regain control of her fitness, mind, body, and soul. Jaclyn explains that this series is important to her because prior to getting “healthier,” it was a tactic in convincing herself it was something she needed to do.
She says, “people online are calling me fat, I’m like oh I need to lose weight! Or I need to go on this crash diet, or I have an event coming up and I have to look good, so let me lock it up for the next month or 6 weeks!” She proclaims that her journey is different now because she genuinely feels motivated and excited, no longer pursuing a healthier lifestyle merely to combat internet trolls and online hate.
A lot of women have experienced this same type of mentality before. Whether it be trying to fit into a wedding or prom dress, trying to get the perfect bikini body for vacation, or pursuing weight loss because of a hateful troll. Jaclyn illustrates that the journey is not about looking a certain way or weighing a specific amount but rather it’s about feeling confident and healthy.
The series includes several raw moments. Her choice to verbalize relatable thought processes helps to incorporate the reader into the content, almost making it feel like there was no difference between creator and viewer.
Each episode is a vlog filled with how she feels from what she eats, what her energy is like, how she failed at points, and how she is adjusting her lifestyle to support the healthy one she wants.
The youtuber promises to show the honest reality of trying to get better. Jaclyn specifically states that she will not hide the bad days, will not be perfect, and will not excessively obsess over her weight or how she looks. Simply, she just wants to feel good.
To say the least, Jaclyn has since delivered on her promise. She shows how hard it is to try and regain a healthy lifestyle, even exposing herself crying in her kitchen at the end of the second episode. When something as important as your health is an everyday struggle and challenge, it’s not uncommon to feel defeated or lost.
Overall, Jaclyn Hill shows women the reality of bettering oneself. Health journeys aren’t realistically portrayed through a 30-second glamorized Tik-Tok transformation; they’re hard, emotional, and unpredictable but that’s what makes them real.