Hello to everyone here on Steemit community.

I am Johnrel, some of my friends call me John, Rel, Tyra Banks, TyraBee. But I'd like to be called with my real and full first name JOHNREL in this community.
I am 21 years old, I was a scholar and studied Physics (a lot of people think I am a geek) in my University years and I graduated in 2016. My scholarship which was DOST (Department of Science and Technology) secured a spot for me to teach in public school but I want to explore different things first aside from teaching Physics. So after graduation I taught English and TOEIC to foreign students specifically, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Chinese, Mongolians and Russians and after a year and a half I became a Technical support for Microsoft XBox up until today. I love modelling and I love taking pictures of myself. Most people see me as someone confident, fierce, someone who loves America's Next top model and modelling, and someone who just knows how to werk it in a picture. But before I have actually become the person I am today I would like to share how I managed to break through my insecurities and transform myself one Camera SNAP at a time.

When I was young I was always so awkward and shy. I have a gap in my teeth, they aren’t very distracting but it actually gave me some struggles closing my mouth without looking awkward. Most people also teased me with my big eyes and my square face. All of these made me very insecure and there was not a day in that part of my life that I said I was beautiful or attractive and I wouldn't even look at myself in the mirror. When my friends would say "Guys let's take some pictures". I would literally freeze. I wouldn't know what to do. A lot of things would run in my mind like "how would I close my mouth properly?" "Should I squint my eyes so that they would look smaller?" "Should I tilt to the side so that my face isn’t that square as it looks?" camera was my worst enemy and taking a picture was a night mare.

One day I took the courage to look at the mirror and look at myself for a relatively longer time. I just looked at myself and did nothing, and then I smiled. I realized that my smile isn’t that bad, my teeth has a gap but it is only obvious on the side, if I actually look straight it looks fine I didn’t realize it because I was too insecure to see a positive thing about me. From that day on every time my friends would take a picture (never did I initiate for one) I would just smile and it wouldn’t look as bad as before. From that I actually gained some confidence and felt not too bad about myself.

When I reached College, I was just at home watching the Television and I was just changing from channel to channel and then I came across a television show it was America's next top model season 19 College edition (what a coincidence). That show is all over the world so I’m pretty sure we all have watched the show at least once and we all know it's about taking a good picture. The show really sparked with me and I scoured the malls and the markets just to get myself a copy and watch the show from cycle 1 to the latest cycle. The show has become not just a modelling show for me. Tyra Banks as the host inspired me in so many ways (explains why some of my friends call me Tyra). Through the show I was able to break the walls of my insecurity. I was able to appreciate more of what I am and I took a second look of my insecurities and turned them into assets. My square face is actually marketable and in demand. Models need a strong jawline to look good in pictures. My eyes are big but they SMIZE through the camera, my teeth has a gap but a gap is actually high fashion. I was able to look at beauty in many ways and in many dimensions. I know I am not the only one who was insecure of herself/himself and I know a lot of people are insecure of how they look because we are in a society where you need to be a cookie-cutter to be beautiful. But I say Screeewww that beauty standards. I see beauty in different colors, different sizes, different shapes and different ethnicities. It's time we look at our insecurities and turn them into assets. It’s time we expand the definition of beauty.

photo source : https://classic.atrl.net/forums/showthread.php?t=891194

I was able to break my shell every time I took a picture of myself. I just love how we can show different sides of ourselves through photography and how we can show our beauty in different ways. Because what you can see in pictures aren’t fake versions of yourself. They are your potentials. I heard a lot of people say, you only look good in pictures, you aren’t that beautiful in real life. I say if you can look a certain way in a picture (unless you are using SNOW or SNAPCHAT application) you can become that in person. A transformation that you can see in your picture, the confidence that you give can actually be your everyday life. I say we take a SNAP of Transformation into a daily YOU. That is how I transformed myself and the person I am today. We can transform ourselves through snaps of potentials. We only have to work with our flaws and be confident. See the beauty in all of us and not shame away our light because of what people say. Just remember that there are billions of people in this world. Don't just be one of the billions, be ONE IN A BILLION. BE UNIQUE, BE DIFFERENT, BE OUT OF THE BOX, BE ORIGINAL, BE YOU. Be brave enough to show your real heart. Don't be ashamed of being yourself

Here in Steemit community, I hope to help encourage people to overcome their insecurities, to start loving themselves and embrace every flaw that they have. Life is truly happy when we accept who we are, and transform into better versions of ourselves in every snap that we do.
I have always been looking for a platform where I can share and voice out the ideas I have in mind as freely as I can. Where all ideas are encouraged and accepted and with other people who can also share ideas you can learn from. Now I see that Steemit is exactly the perfect platform that I need and I want to be able to share ideas with you guys here in this community and I am just very excited with the fact that I get to share and learn with everybody.
I feel so happy for being here I am thrilled for what's gonna come. Thank you so much Steemit community. Looking forward to sharing, learning and exploring brilliant ideas with you guys.

THANKS FOR READING! DON"T FORGET TO FOLLOW! UPVOTE and COMMENT!