Self
Portraits

It makes me sad when I hold my camera up to capture precious moments of my friends and family, seeing them bounce back in fear of the lens. I don’t understand why women are so..I don’t think that self-conscious is the right term for that reaction. It is so much more than that, to recoil in shame and try to hide your face and every possible appendage of your body to avoid having it on film (or flash drive, all things considered).

I myself am guilty of this, and have been for much of my life. Lately though, I am trying to accept “me” as I am. It takes a lot, when you’ve seen yourself one way for so long. I know that so many of us tear our reflections apart. And for what reason? Self-imagined flaws? Your freckles may be the thing someone else loves most about your face, even though you want to hide them.

Take a look at yourself in the mirror.

Do you like what you see?

For a long time, especially these last few years, I have started asking myself why I look at myself and decide to pick out what I don’t like. What about the things I do like? Is it such a terrible thing to look at yourself and be comfortable, if not confident with the person looking back at you?

Self-acceptance is hard, and I still struggle with it often. There are flaws, things I see that I wish I didn’t. Things I admire in my beautiful friends; their big blue eyes, their silky blonde hair. Then I hear them complain about the hair they wish they had instead of the hair I so genuinely wish I had. How they don’t like their eyes, when I have been envious of them since we were in the first grade.

It can be a toxic cycle, but self-acceptance is empowering in a way entirely separate of “beauty”. Knowing that you are beautiful because of your traits, not just your looks. Physical aspects can be important as they play a role with how you see yourself.

But did you know many scientists say that if we were to switch bodies with someone, or even just clone ourselves, we would not recognize our own selves on the street? Our perceptions of how we really appear are so skewed that we would not even know that person walking by us.

It isn’t vanity to take an honest look at yourself and accept yourself as you are. Every woman deserves to feel beautiful. Every woman should be unafraid to be photographed. Every single one of you is beautiful enough.

The meaning of “enough” is entirely up to you.