Loving Yourself

I want all of you, military and civilian Lovelies alike, to read this and take it to heart! This is my friend Millie. She is incredibly talented, gorgeous, and wise beyond her years. Be sure to check out her blog and website too!



"Boy oh boy. I’m stumped. Whoever came up with this “Guest Blog Posts” idea was just a lazy blogger, and decided shove the responsibility onto some poor unfortunate soul. Now, sadly enough I am that poor unfortunate soul. Lets make it even worse, Mrs. S. tells me that I can talk about whatever I want. I tried to tell her that this was not a good idea, and gave my best efforts at convincing her that I am not a writer. She literally laughed in my face. The perks to video chat. So I am sitting here, banging my head against the wall, wondering what I have to tell you. What in the world do I have to contribute to the blogging world? Maybe that I’ll start with how cool I am, or maybe I'll say that I am such an awesome photographer, or how fashionable I am. Hmm, you want to know what I really think?

L-A-M-E. Yes, that right. Lame, lame, lame.

Sure, I am a photographer, and sometimes I like to think that I can actually leave my house in clothes that match and that I can hold an intelligent conversation, but really. Who wants to read another blog post about how great somebody else’s life is? I want to talk about something real. Something that can be relatable to the masses, and that hits home. Quite a daunting task, which explains the said head banging.

Let me just start out with saying that there are so many others out there who could take my words and make them magical. I am not eloquent, or gifted. I misspell words all the time, in fact the auto correct just corrected misspell for me. My sentences are often choppy and I write in fragments, but I have come to accept that its okay. That this is just who I am.

We live in a world where comparison is always forefront in our minds. Where we judge each other instead of loving each other, and where sadly enough, we respect complete strangers more than we respect ourselves. Now I am no master on how to love yourself, but I do know that I am on the same journey as every one else around me. 

My journey of acceptance and love for myself.

Yes, I just said that. MYSELF. You must be thinking, "Geeze that’s a bit selfish." but lets be honest here. There is no greater person of influence in your life except for yourself. There isn’t a person in the world that could persuade me that I was a talented photographer and artist, if I didn’t first believe it myself. For me in my life, it is a constant battle. I think for all women it is a battle to really love them selves, but I strive to challenge all of you out there, to compliment yourself first before you compliment others. I’m not saying to stand on the roof tops and tell everybody how awesome you think you are, but I am simply asking for a little self-recognition.

I was recently having a conversation with one of my best friends and I was telling her how beautiful and wonderful I thought she was. She then turned to me and said, "Millie how about you say something nice about yourself once in a while?" I laughed awkwardly and brushed it off, but I came to notice something. Something about my friend. She had confidence. If you tell her that you think her photographs are stunning, she will gracefully and humbly say, "Thank you." but won't deny it. I have heard her refer to herself as a “Crafter”, and she didn’t ever throw in, a disclaimer about now being a good one. She just simply put that she is crafty and she loves it.

So many times I have noticed this, and its simple. So ridiculously SIMPLE. She believes and trusts in her self. What a wonderful example that is to all of us out there. Especially women. How many times do we, or someone else, point out something fun about ourselves, but then throw a disclaimer that you might not be very good, or that all your awesomeness just happened by chance? Why don’t we have courage enough to just say, "Thank you" and to leave out the part where we claim to not take credit for it. Because, I know that I do it ALL. THE. TIME. Someone says, "Wow you photos are so good!" and I bashfully say, "Oh thanks…. I try."

I guess my whole point of this is to encourage all of you to love your selves a little more, and not to keep your head down in the crowd. Instead, face the world head on, and know that you are worth it. That you are beautiful, and talented, and capable of anything you dream of, because once you start to believe this yourself, then the critical eye of others just doesn’t seem to matter anymore."

 Photo credit: Cami Takes Photos