“If I could go back and tell 18 year old me one thing, I would say “don’t hold yourself back”. Do the things you want to do – and not because people are telling you what to do, and what not to do.”
Courageous Miss A is one of our amazing active duty Air Force clients. She joined our beloved Body Love Project as part of her journey to embrace her curves and body structure.
“I was constantly being told how my body should look and what ideal fitness sounded like. Since my last deployment, I have realized that there isn’t one ideal of beauty. It comes in all shapes and forms and I advocate that for the newer airmen coming into my shop. Be healthy.”
These days, she focuses on building strength, and hitting new fitness goals, rather than chasing a certain “body type”.
When it comes to self love, A loves a good Brazilian blow out, gel manicures, and her time in the gym. An easy ‘reset’ for A is to make sure she’s waking up early, so she can hit the gym and knock out her cardio. That simple action is a ripple into the rest of the day, keeping her energy up and starts her out in her best mood. You can feel her enthusiasm for life from the moment she walks through a door, and we’re so grateful we got to capture her radiance this year.
When asked “what’s the most empowering thing you’ve done when it comes to self love?” A shared that it was participating in the Body Love Project.
“Before coming into the studio to shoot my photos I was not concerned with what I thought about my body, but what others were going to think of it. After the photos were taken, I wanted to cry because in that exact moment I didn’t care what anyone thought, I was proud of myself and felt empowered… I was nervous and excited before my boudoir session. I had about a 90 minute drive to the studio so I had a lot of time to sit and think. During some points of my drive, I was trying to talk myself out of it because I didn’t think I was ready to be so vulnerable. Other times during the drive I was hyping myself up because I know I can do anything… The boudoir shoot has boosted my self confidence so much and it’s made me realize that I am capable of anything that makes me feel vulnerable.
My favorite part of the session was getting my hair and makeup done. Madi was amazing at making me feel comfortable and doing exactly what I envisioned.. I don’t do my makeup very often (usually it’s once a week and typically on a Saturday).”
For A, the hardest part of learning to love her body, was embracing that her scars and stretch marks are a part of her story – that they make her…her. “there is no one out there with my exact body, and I love that. We’re all so different”.
She’s in a season of learning to create healthy boundaries to avoid taking on too much, and looking forward to starting a family some day. And after spending a day with her infectious smile, we have to say, we can’t wait to watch her dreams come to fruition either! A will be back in the studio this fall, and we seriously can’t wait to see her again!
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