Be BOLD. Be Proud!

Most of us grew up with Barbie dolls, princesses, dreams of our Prince Charming whisking us away, our fairy-tale wedding, and our happily ever after. With those dreams, many of us developed unfair expectations of ourselves with what we felt we needed to have, or what the world expected us to be. Whether that was the perfect body, finding the perfect man, and working way to hard to achieve our happily ever after. Sadly, we have become lost in a society that very much believes the same thing. Even with women’s liberation, and feminism, there still seems to be a certain expectation by much of the world for us to be a certain dress size, act a certain way, and be a certain way. If we don’t fit into someone else’s expectation of us, then we become disappointed, and disheartened. For those of us who have been lucky enough not to have had others to have that expectation of us, we still tend to feel like we fell short when we don’t live up to our own expectations. I am here to tell you to stop being your own worst enemy and stop worry about what everyone else thinks. It is time to take control back of who you are, how you look, what you stand for, and just genuinely be in love with being you.

Wow! That sounds easier said than done, doesn’t it? For some of us we may be a little overweight or underweight which causes self-consciousness, self-doubt, and leaves us feeling less than confident. Even some women with perfect bodies are still self-conscious. We are our own worst critics. We can improve on ourselves sure, but no one says that in this very moment you can’t love all of you because you can and should without hesitation. You are beautiful just the way you are, and you should be proud. As someone who shoots boudoir shoots for a living this is something I see time and time again. But you would be surprised with some pampering by a makeup artist to highlight your features, just the right outfits, in a setting that makes you feel beautiful and sexy you can let your inner Goddess out. But it doesn’t stop at the looks.

You need to carry that Inner Goddess with you wherever you go. After all you won’t always have a makeup artist following you around. Though wouldn’t that be awesome!? ;) Here’s the thing… you need to do things that create that snowball effect so you can empower yourself, feel good about you in your skin, in your mind, your heart, your soul, all of it in every setting. Your world should be viewed as a boudoir shoot. Boudoir is just one of those things that can bring you confidence and make you feel sexy. Think about taking a yoga or a spin class, or be even a little bolder and take a pole dancing class.

Now that things are opening up again take up one of your favorite hobbies. Join a paint night, a woman’s wine night, or even start heading back to karaoke. Do things that lift your confidence in you. No one is good at everything, but there are things we know we are good at, or we at least want to try. Build on your current skill of painting or sculpting, and then do something different like try a writing class next or take that criminal law class you wanted to take back in high school just for funsies! Why not?! All those things are confidence builders. When you build confidence, you feel more beautiful, sexier, and all around in control of you, your life. That my dear is what builds confidence and makes you feel bold, strong, and sexy. When you are proud of who you are and what you are accomplishing it is easy to be bold and stand proud in you.

There are other things you can do too. You can do things at work to make yourself feel good. Make a daily journal with a list every morning that throughout the day you check off. That will help you to feel accountable and create a confidence in your work. This way you won’t feel frustrated with yourself for not getting everything done. When we feel like we are procrastinating we tend to beat ourselves up. These are all confidence downers. Be willing to accept and ask for help both in work and at home so you don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. Take initiative and speak your mind when you need to. Don’t be afraid to lay out your boundaries to others. That one is usually a hard one for many of us because we don’t like rocking the boat. But remember a confident woman knows how to state her boundaries with confidence, respect, class and grace. She knows instinctively that those who stay within those boundaries are keepers in her life, and the others she is okay with losing because they weren’t worth it anyway.

Your body is just a small part of that confidence to be proud and be bold, but you have to start somewhere. Having a boudoir session is the first step to being bold and proud, and the first step to stepping outside of your comfort zone. Once you have done that and look back with a big grin on your face going “Yes baby! That’s me!” This is just the beginning and the opening door to having more confidence in other areas to step into you, and out of the place that leave you feeling less than confident. Though we all know confidence is fluid and we can’t always be confident in all areas of our lives all at the same time, we can be proud of the women we are inside and out. You have it in you, and you deserve to be confident in who you are. No matter what role we are playing, no matter what you are doing, who you are talking to, or what is happening in your life, you can create that confidence that will have you feeling sexy whenever you walk into a room even when you have no makeup on, have your hair in a messy bun, and are wearing sweats. We ladies… can, should and deserve to have the confidence to see through all our experiences as the BOLD & PROUD WOMEN that we were meant to be!

Till next time, all my love,

Kayla

xoxo