Regaining Confidence: My Journey of Self-Love and Empowerment

My only child is 9 now & it literally took me years to get back to a shape that I was comfortable with. I gained close to 70 lbs during my pregnancy, so it was a process to say the least. Around 3 years ago, I was so close to being where I wanted to be with my size when out of the blue, the company I work for decided to close their warehouse in Birmingham & I started to work from home. I’m not sure why, but something about starting to work from home took a toll on my self-worth & confidence. I went from putting on nice clothes & doing my hair/makeup 5 to 6 days a week to never needing to leave my PJs most days. This was so weird for me, considering I wouldn’t go to the grocery store without makeup on before then. I didn’t feel like myself for a long time & every time I did put on a nice outfit & get dolled up, I just felt weird. A little over a year ago, I decided to purchase a few pieces of lingerie (until then I really didn’t own much). It was absolutely amazing how something that covered so little, made me feel sexy again thus starting my journey to regaining confidence. Plus, my husband didn’t mind at all! That’s when I decided it was time to finally book my session & make the most of out of that feeling.

I booked my session 6 months out & I stressed about it every chance I had. The day we parked outside the studio, my stomach was in knots & honestly, I thought I was going to barf. Once inside though, everything changed. Justin & Rachel chatted with me like I was an old friend & it helped get me out of my own head. When Justin showed me the very first picture he took & it was everything I could have asked for, all the self-doubt & insecurities went out the window. After everything was done, the hardest part of the day was choosing photos & let me tell you, that was hard! I was so comfortable, I even decided to go ahead & bare it all up top. Even though until that point, I hadn’t even considered it. Looking back, I’m so glad I did, because those turned out to be most of my favorite pictures. 

The entire process was absolutely a pleasure, it got me out of my comfort zone & showed me a side of myself that I had forgotten existed. I have no doubts that I will plan a 2nd visit soon, it really did make me feel that good about myself. Every woman needs at least 1 day to hit the pause button on the hard working mom/wife mode & take sometime for yourself. I didn’t realize how much I needed it, until I actually went through with it.