“For the last few years I have been on a journey to truly love myself for who I am…I have worked it down to a mantra of ‘I am enough'”
How inspirational is that? I’m actually sitting here tearing up reading these words Maddy shared with me. I can’t help but think about how simple those three words are — ‘I am enough’ — and yet rarely do we feel this way.
Maddy and I spent a good chunk of time talking about societal expectations and self-love during our boudoir session. About learning how to see ourselves through our own eyes rather than the fabricated ideals society places on humans, ideals we’ll never be able to achieve anyway (thanks, overenthusiastic photoshoppers!). About the necessary journey we need to take to discover and love ourselves as we are, in order to be truly happy. About how no other person can make us happy; while others can make us happIER, only we can, and are responsible for, making ourselves happy.
From Maddy: “When I was deciding if I wanted to do a boudoir session, I was filled with mixed emotions. It was so hard for me to initially turn off all those programed insecurities that are downloaded into our brains by our culture and society. For the last few years I have been on a journey to truly love myself for who I am, not who I want to be. This is easier said than done but I have worked it down to a mantra of “I am enough”. I saw my boudoir session as an opportunity to practice what I preach, to embrace and celebrate who I am. To say “I am enough”. It was a moment to step into fear and insecurity and release those feelings into love and acceptance. This session was more than a photo shoot for me; it was stepping outside my boundaries in order to grow. I believe Karen shares many of these same ideals and she was supportive, fun and encouraging during the entire process. It was such a fun shoot full of joy and laughter, I encourage anyone who is wanting to embrace and celebrate their beautiful and unique selves to take the leap.”
Maddy absolutely rocked these artistic boudoir photos. The image above is one of my favorites.
I loved working with a bunch of different outfits and looks to create different feels to the images.Why is it that a woman as gorgeous as Maddy comes into my studio full of insecurities? What can we do, as people, in our every day actions to build ourselves up, rather than tear each other down? I would love to hear from you in the comments about what you do to affirm yourself and others.
I truly enjoyed speaking about these topics with Maddy. I believe acknowledging our insecurities and their roots is a big step to eliminating them from our mind. And while I think each and every one of us should work on becoming a better person (there’s always room to grow, right?), we are enough. I am enough. YOU ARE ENOUGH.
(Shoutout to Simply Bridal for the beautiful veil and headpiece, Amanda of Terra Bella Florals for the amazing and colorful floral crowns, and to Page of Absolutely Fabulous Glamour Studio for the lovely hair & makeup.)
