Oso Trava gives a first-person reflection on overcoming fear of judgment by using Instagram videos as a tool for public accountability. He describes converting weekly written reflections into short videos to hold himself accountable and to practice speaking on camera, despite ridicule from friends. He recounts an incident where a friend criticized him in Las Vegas, and later that same friend witnessed strangers thanking him for his work—illustrating that public reaction can be more positive and less judgmental than feared. The central idea: exposing one’s growth publicly reduces embarrassment and builds consistency.
Chapters
One of my friends came up to me and said, what nonsense are you doing? What you're doing is ridiculous. Honestly, I feel sorry for your thoughts. You have no reason to be saying these things. And I said, okay. Instagram meant doing something I said I would never do, which was talking on my phone. And I remember the first time I picked up my phone and started talking. And before, what I did to talk was write reflections, I would write a reflection once a week, and I would use that as a kind of script to say this reflection on video and post it. And these reflections weren't to teach anyone. They were to hold me accountable. It's often said that the one who teaches learns more than the one who listens or the one who takes the class. And that's what I was doing. I was building myself up in public. And these reflections were, what did I learn this week? I want to not only repeat it to myself, but. But put it out there so that if someone sees me acting differently, they can hold it against me. Little by little, you start to get rid of the embarrassment. You get better. You start getting used to it. The truth is that although I was afraid, especially from my friends who would tell me no, there wasn't that much hate at first, the reality is that people care less about you than you give yourself credit for. So there aren't many people who come to you to criticize you. And if they do criticize you, suddenly something happened when a group of friends and I went to Las Vegas, and one of my friends came up to me and said, what stupid thing are you doing? What you're doing is ridiculous. Honestly, I feel sorry for you, even for your thoughts. You have no reason to be saying these things. And I said, okay. A couple years later, that same group of friends returned to Las Vegas. And this same friend happened to stand next to me from the plane to the airport lobby, the nightclub, the pool, and the casino as people came up to me and said, thank you for doing what you do, and. And took a picture. He didn't have to say anything, of course. That's all there is to it.
