Some of us are born with that confidence. It’s rare but sometimes there are those select few of us that never struggle with embracing our own inner and outer beauty. That are comfortable in their skin.
If you are like me, you are not one of those women. I spent most of my school years being called names because of my height. A height that was a head taller than everyone else my age so naturally, I was “bigger”. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I really started to embrace my height. I started to really embrace the curves of my own body no matter if I had an extra bit of weight on it. Sure, I could lose some weight. Sure it would be nice if I didn’t feel like a giant compared to my female friends because of my 5’11” height. Now I look in the mirror and am able to be ok with who I am looking at. Whether I am dolled up, or just brushing my teeth in the morning with a messy bun on my head in an oversized t-shirt.
I know that I am not alone in this journey of self-love. Knowing Alanna for so many years, I have been able to watch her journey from a close seat. She has this incredible laugh that I cannot help but be filled with joy when we tell each other stupid jokes.
So imagine my happiness when Alanna received her boudoir photographs and said she finally saw herself in the way everyone else saw her. She saw a beautiful, bohemian, adventurous woman who’s spirit was finally visible because she was comfortable in her own skin. She loved her own smile. She saw the same woman we all saw and it gave me such a feeling of satisfaction I don’t think any words I could say can really convey that. As her journey to finding herself and her self-love evolved, not only did she start loving who she saw in the mirror, but she was loving who she was becoming as well. We all go through periods of evolution. Her evolution was taking her to a destination that she was always meant to be – becoming a confident, free-spirited woman with a passionate love of life. This boudoir photography session was so authentically her. Hair and makeup to reflect her day to day look, throwing on some Free People bohemian pieces that reflect her style, and that’s all that was needed.
Self-love is truly what makes or breaks us.
Through this journey, she has become a woman that could confidently change the entire direction of her life. Alanna has made a career as a talented hair and makeup artist. Hair and make-up were working well for her, but it wasn’t speaking to her soul. She knew deep inside it wasn’t what made her get up in the morning with excitement for life. That’s why last month she got in her car with her dog and drove from California to Alaska to start a new job teaching outdoor adventures to travelers. Leaving the Bay Area to live minimalistic in the mountains so that she could really get the know herself as a person. She followed her heart which I know took so much courage, which came from a place of self-love that told her she deserved to follow such a dream.
To be a part of her journey means the world to me. To watch her grow from an 18 year old straight out of high school unsure of what direction to go, into this amazing woman comfortable in her own skin and proud of her journey. She put her insecurities aside, embraced her sexuality and beauty, and let me create art. The ability to document her evolution, well what a damn gift that is.
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