Matt Joseph Diaz

Matt Joseph Diaz

Bio

Matt Joseph Diaz is a public speaker and social media activist tackling the issues of body image and self love. Matt has been working in social media since the age of 15, and has a long history of creating online content for entertainment and educational purposes. Matts videos have accrued over 120 million views in countries all over the world as well as being featured in People, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, Upworthy and numerous other news websites. He now spend a lot of his time traveling and speaking on self love at conferences, colleges and public events. Matt Joseph Diaz currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.   

Matt Joseph Diaz Articles

#MondaysWithMatt: Supporting your partner through mental illness

#MondaysWithMatt: You Cannot "Cure" Your Partner's Mental Illness

Think of #MondaysWithMatt as the ultimate #MondayMotivation. Today's topic is how to handle mental health in a partner.

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One of my favorite authors once said: “It is so hard to leave — until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.” Image: Thinkstock.

5 Things That Happen When You're About To Move Away

I’m uprooting my life to try something new and different in another city in another state. In the time leading up to the actual move, I’ve found that a bunch of weird fucking shit (for lack of a better term) has showed up out of nowhere.

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"The body positive movement strives to put forth one idea: that all body types are valid, regardless of their shape, size, or disability." Image: Thinkstock

Your Body Positivity Needs To Include More Than Just You.

It’s pretty easy to see why people would want to rebel against [our current standard of beauty] — it’s unattainable, and even for those who manage to reach something close to it, it’s often unsustainable. However, in rebelling against the oppressive system, we run into situations where people denigrate others who happen to more closely fit the description of what we recognize as the ideal.

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We are all different, as we come from different backgrounds, experience different hardships, and come to have different perspectives on the world. Image: Thinkstock.

Saying “We Are All The Same” Will Not Unite Us

As much as you want to believe people are all the same, we don’t have the luxury of being seen as the “default” in the same way white, straight, cis people often are. We don’t have the luxury of dismissing our painful history and systemic issues for the sake of everyone getting along, because we’re still in the middle of them.

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Mondays With Matt

Mondays With Matt: Are You Feeling Unsafe, Or Uncomfortable?

Feeling unsafe and feeling uncomfortable aren't the same. Pushing yourself into uncomfortable places can help you grow.

 

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You shouldn’t pursue self-love and better self-esteem because you want to feel worthy of being loved someday — you should pursue self-love because you deserve to love yourself. Image: Drew Coffman/Unsplash.

'Nobody Can Love You Until You Love Yourself' Is Bullsh*t

There is a danger in the rise of affirmations and other empowering online content. Some types of affirmations aim to inspire a sense of independence, but in reality only invalidate the struggles of the person who reads them.

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We shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed of our pasts, just because they’re different from what we want in the present. Image: Thinkstock.

Stop Asking Your Partners How Many People They've Slept With

I’m not writing this in order to get defensive about my number of partners, by the way. I’ve had sex with around 25 people since the end of 2012 and I’m perfectly proud of and comfortable with that number. However, asking someone you’re dating about how many people they’ve slept with is a question meant to make them feel ashamed.

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Mondays With Matt: Masturbation

Mondays With Matt: We're Talking Masturbation

This Monday, Matt helps us celebrate Masturbation Month! (To say anything else would betray the beauty of this video.)

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I didn’t understand what was happening. Image: Thinkstock.

I Took My Clothes Off And She Rejected Me

[CN: alcohol] Once we were in her apartment she grabbed me by the necktie, kissed me softly on the lips, told me to take my clothes off, and walked into her bedroom. Her clothing dropped to the ground piece by piece from where I stood to the bedroom — like some sort of Hansel and Gretel breadcrumb situation (if it were less creepy and filmed for Cinemax).

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Image: Elizabeth Barnwell Photography from her project Still:Life (http://www.elizabethbarnwell.com/)

Body Positivity And The Ebb And Flow Of Self-Worth

Taking the time to find clothes that I liked, to dye my hair, and get tattooed — for the first time I was building a place of my own.

When I lost that ability for a while, being too weak and swollen to really put the effort in, it felt like I’d lost a part of myself. It felt like I’d regressed, like I’d gotten to the finish line and was forced back into the race.

This is the trap we fall into when we discuss recovery, emotional development, mental health, or body image: believing there’s a destination.

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