Dear Fellow Human...

I got into a fight with Ashlee Simpson.

Ashlee Simpson was on the cover of Marie Claire magazine in the mid 2000’s. In the mag she went on to talk about individuality, embracing being unique and being confident in the person you are right now. Shortly after her interview went to press, she got a nose job.

People, including myself, were like wtf Ashlee Simpson and Marie Claire? How can a person promote one thing and then do something that completely goes against that thing?

Simple: Humans are walking contradictions.

I felt a kinship with Ashlee. She was preaching these words of self-compassion and esteem to my insecure funky nose heart. Was I really upset that she got a nose job? No. I was upset that she went on this global platform preaching the importance of self acceptance and love when she didn’t really feel that way. The thing is self love and self acceptance are born from a place of feeling the counter. We are born in bliss and are blank canvases. We learn a lot of shit that’s not true and live our life according to these non-truths. We have coping mechanisms to numb us out from what’s really an illusion. It’s fucked up.

Ashlee Simpson was living a public life. I can’t imagine how much shit she got (from people who don’t even know her) for her imperfect nose. How she must have felt to have chosen to break her body in order to shape it into someone else’s ideal of what is beautiful. The compassion that I now have for myself, I am able to give to someone like her. I understand and embrace the contradiction.

Dear Ashlee Simpson, I hope you are able to breathe better than ever and that you smell all the possibilities.