Brimming with brilliance, Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian.

With visionaries like Mr. Thoreau, what thoughts they shape and share are often timeless.

The fashion industry as we know it today with a strong focus on thin models as the ideal beauty did not exist in his day but what he suggested could certainly apply to their industry in our time period and any other.

He was quoted as expressing, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

When Femcompetitor Magazine looked at the Swedish shapely blonde bombshell Erika Elfwenkrona for the first time our emotions ranged from breathlessness to admiration and desire. She truly is a work of art and it’s understandable that she commands global attention as a model.

As beautiful as this Fem Competitor is, do you want to know what impressed us even more?

Her wisdom.

How many people do you know in your past and present life that when they were young, were not sure what they wanted out of life, thus wandered down several pathways that ranged from drifting from one fruitless option after another or worse become guided by mentors that did not have their best interests in mind?

There is another case scenario even more devastating.

How many did you know like the above described who actually knew what they loved and had a passion about that which was unconventional, involved risk pursuit and they decided to play it safe, not pursue it, and that window of opportunity closed on them?

When Erika was young, she had a big decision to make. The best answer to her life altering pathway was not obvious but she decided to listen to her heart, head and body to pursue what she felt was the best course.

We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.….Max de Pree

In her interview with lingerie.planetfem.com she speaks about that fork in the road. “Even though I was 5ft 9ins I was convinced I had to be thinner. My parents grew so worried about the number of times I disappeared into the bathroom to weigh myself, they took away the scales. But though I got down to my target weight of 7st 5lbs, my weight started to yo-yo.

When I did eat something, I wouldn’t be able to stop. It would start with a little bread. Then I would have some more with a little piece of butter. I would end up eating half the loaf. When my agency called me in and suggested I take a break, it was a relief. I took a step back from fashion and went back to college to study. I ate normally and my body became the shape it was meant to be – 11 stone. Two years later, I went back to my agency, happier and healthier than ever.”

What wisdom.

How many young models would have listened to and followed the thinking of the global modeling industry leadership and continued to pursue a regime that was detrimental to their health?

Our origins are in the competitive female submission wrestling world. As we started to reach out to the Fem Competitors of the modeling world, our research has revealed a startling number of top models who literally starved themselves to death and passed away.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.….John C. Maxwell

Erika is a wise girl.

She is also a well-rounded girl. Yes, literally and figuratively. That’s a good thing.

She loves horses, shopping, traveling, reading, and spending time with my family and my friends. Erika doesn’t drink alcohol, adores sushi and Italian pasta and her favorite city to shop in is London.

A Golden Child of Gothenburg, Sweden, Erika was raised by a wonderful and scenic village. Let’s please travel there.

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 543,005, with 549,839 in the urban area and 973,261 inhabitants in the metropolitan area.

It is the second-largest city in Sweden after capital Stockholm.

This part of the world is a tourist’s paradise.

The enjoyable travel site visitsweden.com agrees. “Gothenburg and the West Coast have got international travel journalists and food bloggers eating out of their hands. Why?  World-class seafood, world-class restaurants and a coastline and archipelago to die for.”

The city hosts some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia. The Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year.

This writer’s favorite was the beauty and allure of the canals that meander through this wonderful water paradise.

The Visit Sweden group also speak of the Göta Canal with its 58 locks and 47 bridges, runs from Mem/Söderköping on the Baltic Sea to Sjötorp at Lake Vänern. Together with other canals it helps create “Sweden’s Blue Ribbon” and connects Stockholm and Gothenburg by water.

Near Gothenburg is the idyllic and highly scenic landscape of Dalsland – a paradise of calm and quiet, deep green forests, and, first and foremost, a famous multitude of lakes, rivers and waterways: a vast water world known among the most magnificently beautiful in Europe.

No wonder Erika enjoys life.

Erika’s wisdom has led her to live a dream life of travel and adoration complete with being able to eat the tasty foods that she enjoys. Her modeling assignments have seen her career propel higher than the Nordic stars.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail……Ralph Waldo Emerson

She was chosen as the star of a Simply Yours lingerie TV commercial as well as modelling for Italian Vogue, the successful and respected plus-size designer Anna Scholz, home favorites, Littlewoods and international lingerie brand Bravissimo.

Our Swedish Princess is another example of how the world of the Fem Competitor magically and globally takes our hand and enlightens if we are wise enough to enjoy their sensuality yet look beyond their physical beauty and learn the wisdom of their life stories within.

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Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.

http://www.vogue.it/en/vogue-curvy/how-to/2010/06/erica-elfwencrona

http://lingerie.planetfem.com/plus-size-models/#.Vpf4xVl7ykw

http://www.goteborg.com/en/

http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Regions–Cities/Gothenburg/

http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Travel-guide/Getting-around-in-Sweden/Canals/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_David_Thoreau.jpg#/media/File:Henry_David_Thoreau.jpg