A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words of Self Love

One of the first Self Love Assignments I give people aside from writing a Self Love Letter is to take lots of pictures of you. It's so simple to do, yet so hard to put into practice.

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” ― Dorothea Lange

From the age of 15-20 you'd be very hard pressed to find any pictures of me, and if you did, they'd be the kind that were taken without my permission, usually with a hand flung out to block it or an awkward look of slow-motion horror blossoming over my face. 

Pictures seemed like proof, hard, factual evidence, that I was unattractive, and who wants visible proof of that? I was letting my poor self-esteem and my bad self-image stop me from making memories, it stopped me from noticing the beauty in my face, and the beauty inside of myself. 

Lately I've been taking more pictures, (thank you smart phone + instagram) and allowing myself to fully believe that no picture is a bad picture because each picture that I take shows me, and that in itself makes it beautiful, because I am beautiful. When you look at it that way, it gets better, it gets easier. I promise.

I still struggle with finding a picture that I want to share with ya know, the world. But to be honest, the best pictures are the ones that I only want to share with myself. I was feeling especially unattractive one day and I decided to take one of those nekkid body, full-length mirror shots, the kind that make women shudder in horror... and it turned out great. It turned out better than great. I noticed all of the curves, and the soft roundness, and the beauty of my skin, and the way my body looks so natural and womanly. Like a freakin' Goddess.

In that moment I created my own definition of what beauty was to me. 

So go out there and take your picture, and let other people take pictures of you too, become part of their tapestry of memories! Let them be able to look back through their pictures and see you there! Take pictures and keep them just for yourself. Look at pictures of yourself, even ones that you hate, and find something good to say about it. Even if it's not traditionally beautiful, even if it's only something you would notice (I adore the itty bitty freckle in the middle of my forehead), even if it's something that only fits your definition of beauty.

'Cause you are totally beautiful.