There is only one nude photo you will ever see from me.

The only nude you will ever see from me.

I have quite a long drive to work. It takes me about 25 minutes. I use this time to reflect, sing along to the radio, put some make up on, drink my first coffee of the day and most importantly have some very serious conversations with myself.

The last few weeks I have been having a very serious conversation with myself and I actually still didn't resolve the conversation. The topic of my conversation was Kim Kardashian and her latest nude. You see I just don't know how I feel about it. I am torn. Torn torn torn.

You see I like Kim. I see that she is a very clever business women. She has managed to transform the celebrity industry ( whether that be good or bad is up to you), she has many successful business lines and she is a self made millionaire many times over. If she had managed to amass that much success in any other industry we would be high fiving her  saying " You go girlfriend."

We judge her because she is rubbish at relationships and is into her third marriage. But she does seem to be a very good mother, is close to her family and she has very nice taste in cars.

She has managed to alter the physical perception of what makes a women beautiful. Prior to Kim, the perception of beauty in the Western World was skinny. Now women are embracing their curves. This can only be a good thing. (Coming from a curvy girl. Hell someone at work last week told me I was curvy and I didn't feel the need to slap him.)

But here is where my conflict with Kimmy comes into it. It is all about her most recent Nude she posted on Instagram. I have seen Kim nude. I think we all have. She is to nude in 2016 to what Madonna was to nude in the 90's. But in the 90's if you wanted to see Madonna nude you have to go to the bookshop to track down a copy of her book. Not just see it pop up on your Instagram feed.

Working in education we have a very real issue with young girls being asked to send Nudes. And they do. We tell them this is wrong. Because it is. When you are an adult you can send nudes to whoever you want. Because you are not making that decision based on being pressured to do so. That image will not be shown to every boy in the school. You will not be teased. You will not have to live in that constant feeling of dread that the image will come back and bite you. You will not have to suffer the humiliation of other kids saying horrible things about your body. You will also not have to see that look of disappointment on your parents faces when they come into school to try and sort the issue out for you. (For the record the look of disappointment is actually hiding the sadness they feel about the hurt and humiliation their precious child is going through).  As an adult I say if you want to send a nude you do it. But Kim has young followers and she encourages these followers by having apps like her game. So if she is going to encourage a whole big demographic should she really be posting nudes that can be seen by young girls??? Or as an adult can she do whatever she wants???

My second issue is this...... that is not a normal body. It is a body that has been surgically enhanced, subjected to wearing a waist training corset, and has been photoshopped before being put up. Also for the record the lastest Nude was taken 12 months ago. This only came to light when another agency pointed out that it was nearly identical to a snap taken 12 months ago. So was she putting added pressure on women who have just had babies to think they should have lost that baby weight already??? 

Can you see my pain??? For every argument I have I can see the other side of the coin. Who made her a role model- but if we are buying her products then does she have an obligation to set an example???? Is she liberating women by showing her body naked or is she setting the women's movement back by making herself a sex object? Does that fact that she got famous by having a sex tape released take away from the fact that she is a canny business women?


It all just makes my head hurt. 

P.S. For those of you who think I am over thinking it I feel I do need to clarify that I do teach the impact celebrities have on mainstream society. The struggle is real.

Why 80% is my magic number.

SoI'm doing this thing. I'm calling it the 80% rule. From now on I am no longer expecting everything to have to be 100% perfect. 80% is good enough. That is still a good strong A grade. So it is still an A day but just gives a bit of flexibility for a few things to go wrong.

I'm not really sure how or why I can up with my 80% rule, but I honestly think it has changed my life. I no longer get hung up on everything being perfect. I don't have to be 100% perfect. My day doesn't have to be 100% and I don't have to look 100%. So something can happen during that day that might annoy me, or go wrong, or upset me and that accounts for my 20% buffer.

Some days I will not be 100% happy and I feel I  don't have to be. I can leave the house in the morning with the house looking 80%. I can eat 80% well and I can exercise 80% well. I have dropped my study down to One Unit because I don't feel the need to push myself to be doing something (and exhausting myself) 100% of the time.

It has taken some getting used to- and at times I have to remind myself that I am only aiming for 80%.

It is actually kind of really fun, and really relaxing. This of course doesn't mean that I don't strive for 100%- I just don't stress if I don't reach it. I think it is called being kind to your self. And it is really kind of nice.