Every once in awhile I’m inspired to add to my blog something other than images from a session.
This. This little heart filled with adjectives had me crying so hard I couldn’t even read the words aloud. I didn’t write them. A beautiful, smart, kind, insightful, simply AMAZING group of 11 women did. ABOUT me. A…bouttt me..?! AND I had the privilege to do the same for each one of them.
Why is it so much easier to tell others how beautiful, smart, brave, strong etc they are but so incredibly difficult to hear it from others and believe it? Or why don’t we tell ourselves these things (and believe it)? Why is true self-love so difficult? I know some are rockstars at this but I’d venture to say more people than not really struggle with this.
This past fall I participated in a workshop through She Climbs Mountains (a non-profit organization “designed to support adult women who have experienced mother loss as a result of death at any stage of life. Through workshops, informal gatherings, and formal events, the organization is committed to encouraging women to explore the myriad of emotions and experiences that accompany the loss of a mother.”). The workshop was specifically for women who experienced the death of their mother before they were 21. The weeks of this workshop still fill me with awe and gratitude. The weeks were often intense but oddly comforting hearing others’ stories and knowing we have so much more in common than we would have ever thought. These eleven women are some of the most incredible, bravest, inspiring, truly beautiful women I have ever met and I feel fortunate to have met every single one of them. It’s a group no one wants to actually belong to but we are comforted by our similarities and can be truly empathetic of one another. Our final workshop ended with a brunch (and it was phenomenal, of course, because why wouldn't this group come up THE best brunch food ever?). Our final task of this workshop was to write our name above the heart on this piece of paper, pass the paper to our right and we each took turns writing a word or simple phrase about each person. Eventually the hearts ended back with their rightful owner and we took turns going around the table reading our hearts. I had a lot of difficulty reading my heart; the words were impactful. When I realized the huge impact that these ‘simple’ words or phrases immediately had on me I was overwhelmed. Words. Little simple words moved me to tears (yes, I know….that is not hard to do but still!).
It brings me back to wondering why hearing kind things about yourself is so difficult to accept? Do we not hear it enough? And why then, when we finally do it’s hard to comprehend? Maybe in addition to self love we need to work on passing those nice words on to others so eventually it sinks in? It reminds me of a quote from the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
Because everyone needs and deserves to hear this: You is kind. You is smart. You is important. And you are beautiful and you are enough!
XO