I've been working on overcoming my body image problems, and I heard about modeling on my college campus for an art class. I read up on Redditors' experiences doing it, and they said it was weird for a minute, but once everyone gets their eyeful, you become far less self-conscious, which is what I wanted.

So.

I reached out to an art teacher who offered me $100 to model for three hours, and I took it. I did not prepare like I should have. It was early in the morning, and I was sleep deprived, I hadn't stretched, I hadn't eaten or had any water, so I was sore from head to toe by the end. Anyway, so robe came off, and just like redditors said, it was only weird for a minute. I realized very quickly how physically demanding it is to hold poses, so that was all I could focus on.

About 20 minutes into the 3 hour session, a student walked in late. It was a girl I had had a massive crush on like 3 years ago and hadn't seen or talked to since she left the job we both worked at (she got engaged, which is why I didn't ask her out after she quit). She sits down at an empty easel. Now, models and artists aren't supposed to make eye contact for obvious reasons, and I didn't. But I knew from seeing her in my peripheral vision that she recognized me too. For the next 2.5 hours, she sketched me, and I had to keep rotating after each pose so that everyone in the room had the chance to catch angles, so she for sure saw every inch of me. Thank god I have strong self-contre my natural functions could have made that very uncomfortable for everyone.

We ran into each other in the hall afterward, and neither of us said a word or looked at each other. it was so weird, but it makes me excited when I think about it, and I want to do it again. Definitely got what I wanted out of the experience