Confidence.

There’s been something weighing heavily on my mind the past little bit. And as I considered writing this post, I knew I needed to do so cautiously. One of the careers I work in is being a photographer, I have been offering boudoir sessions for Christmas and Valentines and as women were booking their sessions I began to see a pattern. Most women mentioned being nervous, which is 110% valid and totally understandable, doing a session like this anybody would be nervous, it’s a vulnerable experience. But some would also mention how they don’t think they have the greatest body or how they wanted their stretch marks photoshopped. This breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart that so many women struggle with feeling confident with their bodies. Myself included. I feel and understand their hesitation, because I can relate on some level. I’m skinny. I feel like my body isn’t sexy because I don’t have curves, I have scars and believe it or not I have stretch marks. But with that being said, I am a firm believer that I am beautiful regardless of how I might look.

Anytime someone would mention something like “My body doesn’t look good enough to do a session like this, but I wish!” all I wanted to do was hug them tight and say this: You are BEAUTIFUL no matter what. You CAN rock this shoot. You HAVE worth. Let your inner goddess SHINE. You may think you have flaws but each flaw is just more to LOVE about you.

Your weight may not be where you want it to be, but size does not define your beauty and should never determine your confidence. Pushing negative body images and thoughts out of our heads might be a difficult task but it’s something that needs to happen. Every person is created differently, each of us with our own insecurities. But the awesome thing about life is we can overcome those insecurities. It may take time, but when we choose to overcome our insecurities we become that much stronger and that much more confident.

As a photographer I’m often asked if I can edit flaws, and most of the time I want to say no. Simply because I feel like as I’m editing out a clients flaws I’m taking away a part of them. I’m taking away their story. When all I want to do is remind them that those flaws they so badly want to get rid of, make them who they are. I love each of those flaws. I see them as something that is beautiful and unique. But then I also need to have the outlook of how ultimately I want them to be happy with the photos and feel confident. Maybe they personally feel more confident when those flaws are gone. It’s all a world of perspective. Sometimes speaking about flaws and confidence make people feel out of their comfort zone. But I just had to do it. It’s a little scary trying to put this topic into words.

With this weighing heavily on my mind I decided I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone. Something that may seem silly but is out of my element. Most times when I am on a photoshoot (modeling) it’s so hard for me to just be silly and playful. It’s incredibly hard and awkward feeling to just let loose and not worry about modeling. So I set up a shoot to do my best to stay out of my comfort zone and stay relaxed. It was difficult at first, but I think I finally got the hang of it. Something SO simple but something accomplished, or at least being worked on.

If you are reading this..the one thing I hope you take from it is this: Even if you’re out of your comfort zone, I hope and pray that you know how beautiful you are regardless of whatever flaws you feel might be present. You are loved, you deserve to feel confident and most of all you need to know how very beautiful you are.