Nobody’s life is simple and there will always be a few bumps in the road. It’s the same with success. The journey is never going to be easy. If it was, we’d all be millionaires by the age of 25. Getting on the right path, making the right decisions and meeting the right people are all things that take time and energy.
One person you’re 100% guaranteed to meet as you make your way through life is someone who wants to see you fail. Much as we like to think that everyone is inherently good, jealousy and competitiveness are two key parts of life. There will always be those who begrudge you your good moments and take pleasure in your lowest points.
Chanel’s woman of the moment, Kendall Jenner, made that point clear with a video released over the weekend. As part of an interview for the latest issue of Dazed, Kendall made a Mean Girls-esque Burn Book, full of scathing lines and insults. The twist? Every line in the book was one that had been written about Kendall in comments on her various social media accounts.
From, “Too bad she’s one of the richest, prettiest and most talentless people ever” and “Kendall Jenner is a self-absorbed white b*tch with millions of dollars for doing absolutely nothing,” it’s all there in black and white. Or black and pink, in true Mean Girls style.
The model and reality star spoke in her Dazed interview about the difficulty she faced in making people believe her success was deserved. “For me, getting into this and being taken seriously was something that needed to be figured out,” she says. “I had to do some of the best shows to say, ‘Yo, this is what I’m doing and here I am, proving it.’”
Rather than taking on her haters by showering them with abuse, Kendall took the high road and gave them the two fingers by becoming one of the most successful young models of the last five years. And that’s an attitude we could all learn a thing or two from.
It’s never pleasant to know that others are gunning for you to fall at the first hurdle, but why not use that bad energy to push you further, instead of letting it slow you down? No, it shouldn’t matter what other people think, but the truth is that for most of us it really, really does. So let’s use that obsession with other people’s opinions to drive us and motivate us.
As a member of the Kardashian family, Kendall was always going to have a lot of negativity directed toward her. What’s admirable is that she has used those potentially hurtful comments to her advantage. There’s no better satisfaction than doing a job well and proving someone utterly wrong.