I was extremely nervous about sharing these excerpts—hence the delay. This was from a few weeks ago, right before I left for Korea. As some of my closest friends can attest to, in the months leading up to getting on that plane, I twisted myself and my body into knots, doing everything I could to shield myself from judgment—real or imaginary. If you’ve been to Korea, then you may already be familiar with the weight of the country’s impossible beauty standards. While I love Korea for a lot of reasons and ultimately ended up having an incredible time there with my family, my fears were real and grounded in fact. I want to specifically thank jinathegorgeous for openly talking about this on her Instagram. I don’t know that I would have had the courage to talk about this without her refreshing and often hilarious views on this topic. Many of you have already shared your own thoughts on the essay respectfully and kindly and for that, I am incredibly grateful. If you want the full story, co...