#OliviaJordan
I look back on the journey I took to find myself in Belize this week, shooting for @si_swimsuit.
🏼 The dozens of emails I sent to photographers 5 years ago asking to do bikini test. The few that said yes- those that believed in me before the followers, before the crown, before anyone else did. The agents that told me I would never make a living as a model, much less book SI, that I needed to lose weight, lose inches off my hips, get a boob job, cut my hair, etc., etc…And then the agents and managers that supported me, accepted me, saw my potential and nurtured my career.
I very easily could have given up, taken on all the criticism as fact, destroyed my body and my health trying to fit in someone else's image of what I "should be". But I didn't. Often times, my feelings were hurt. Ive cried many tears letting other people's opinions affect my self-esteem. But with practice, I have learned to shake off negativity and surround myself with the loving, uplifting people that remind me of my worth at the times that I forget. I heard no, but I never let that be the final answer. I kept working. I kept believing. I kept building. I kept hustling. One step in front of the other.
Some things didn't work out and it hurt (in retrospect- thank God that they didn't work out before I was ready), the right things have always come just when I needed them the most.
🏼 I have learned a lot of patience. It has not always been easy. But I wouldn't change once piece of this journey for anything. I have learned, I have grown, and here I am, living one of my wildest dreams.
I am so grateful for every single person that helped me get here. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged and supported me and even those of you who didn't believe I could ever be anything, thank you, you pushed me to grow.
🏼 And today, I remember the same mantra I have had since I set out on this journey so many years ago- I am only just beginning.
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