Social media has a complicated reputation. The line between overuse and staying connected has become increasingly complex to navigate. As platforms evolve from personal pages to businesses, photos have become more tailored and edited than ever. Carefully curated Instagram feeds reflect picture-perfect lifestyles, far from the reality behind the photos.

No stranger to the business of beauty, model Amber Lyon decided to break free of this digital perfectionism with her mindful page Modern Mind. A resource for sustainable mental health practices, mindful practices, and an uplifting community, Modern Mind is known for its 21-day meditation challenge and candid blog run by Lyon herself.

You may have seen Lyon in campaigns for L’Oreal, Chloé or in countless fashion magazines, but not captured by the lens is Lyon’s contemplative presence, reflective in her writing. Beginning modeling at 15, Lyon juggled a busy schedule of photoshoots and homework until launching her career full-time. Leaving her home country of New Zealand, Lyon lived between Europe and New York, which she described as “a reflective time” where she was still trying to figure out who she was with “so much pressure to be this confident, fearless, size 0 model.” With downtime between castings, Lyon used the time to channel her mindful words into Modern Mind. Since starting, her words has reached tens of millions of people, showing the content clearly struck a chord. A refreshing break in the midst in the visually overwhelming or triggering experience of scrolling our feeds.

I spoke to Lyon about her motivation to start Modern Mind and her thoughts on the relationship between mental health and social media.

INTERVIEWER: I love your Modern Mind page and the messages you share, what prompted you to start writing and sharing?

AMBER LYON: The act of zoning in and being able to translate my thoughts into text has always been deeply cathartic for me. I have always used my notes app as a personal catalog of thoughts, lessons & observations about the world and people. When I moved to New York for modeling, I felt worlds away from my home country of New Zealand and the comforts I was used to. I was also navigating the modeling industry and the nature of comparison and body image issues that come along with that. I was sitting at a cafe downtown one morning and just decided that I wanted to start sharing the content of my notes publicly, in the hopes it might help someone else that read it. From there, it just organically grew as people shared it with their communities. To know that it resonates with so many people couldn’t bring me more joy.

INTERVIEWER: Where did the name Modern Mind come from, why not use your own name?

AMBER LYON: Modern Mind was really born from a place of anonymity. Not because I hid it from those closest to me, but because I was so far from home, it allowed me to let go of a lot of the fears I had about what people would think. It took me a long time to personally link myself to the page. It’s impossible to establish something without first starting out and making mistakes along the way. It’s part of the reason it’s so important to me to share what I do. It may just be words, but I believe that words plant seeds that the mind continues to water. If someone opens themselves to the idea that it’s natural to question starting something, or feeling embarrassed to do so, maybe they’ll try anyway and end up spending more time doing something they love. That’s the intent of the page, to open up possibilities that we may have forgotten along the way.

INTERVIEWER: How do you feel about modeling and social media now?

AMBER LYON: It took me a while to find my voice but creatively modeling has always been such a rewarding career path. When I started modeling I was still figuring out what was and wasn’t ok with me. I think it can be difficult when you are told to be something that doesn’t feel authentic to you. Part of you wants to please others, especially being so young, but it just got to a point where I couldn’t any longer. As soon as I took some time to figure out my values and boundaries, it didn’t feel like a fight any longer. I think the same sort of approach applies to social media. I am really conscious of the content I’m exposing myself to and asking: is this something that serves me? If we engage with it in a way that’s supportive of our growth and mental health I think it can be an inspiring environment.

INTERVIEWER: What is next?

AMBER LYON: Recently I’ve started to venture into a few exciting projects to provide tangible tools to support the words I share. In June I launched a monthly 21-day challenge to help those that are looking to start meditating, and soon I’ll be releasing a gratitude journal which I’m really proud of. I’m constantly thinking of ideas of things I can use in my daily life to help with goals or new habits and I think that will continue to organically translate to what I share with the Modern Mind community. Soon I hope to have a book that collates all the words on the page and shares a bit of context to my own life too.

Follow Lyons’ page Modern Mind’s website and Instagram to learn more.