i am. confident

but i haven’t always been this way. with a little bit of a ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ mentality, i learned that confidence is truly just a state of mind. let me take you back to the good ol’ middle school days (cringe). i was painfully shy. i didn’t talk much and, when i did find the courage to speak, i stumbled over my words. boy, i was awkward. fast forward to freshman year. i got into my first long term relationship and started hanging out with the same group of people every day. because this group constantly boosted me up, i started to gain some confidence to try out being me. after my breakup, though, this friend group kinda fell apart and i was a little lost. i started to worry, again, about what other people thought of me. luckily, i had an epiphany. i thought, since i don’t dwell on others’ imperfections, what are the odds they’re dwelling on mine? slim to none. i mean if Kylie Jenner takes out her lip fillers, we care for like, what, an hour? and she’s Kylie Jenner! no one cares about us common folk that much. so why not take some risks? my mom also started getting into photography (iPhone photography, specifically) which meant going to ‘cool’ places to take pics, which usually were highly populated. inevitably, we got a lot of weird looks. it was awkward at first, but then i realized that no one knows me or cares, so i learned to embrace it (as you can tell from my pics, i may need to reel it in a bit).

for some, confidence comes naturally. for others, like me, it requires practice & putting yourself out there. but, boy, is it worth it. i now walk with my chin up, wear clothes that are a bit out of my comfort zone, introduce myself to new people, say yes to offers from unfamiliar photographers, and speak in public. it’s worth every stumble, every awkward look, and every “what the heck am i doing” moment. so get out of your comfort zone a little because confidence is attractive and lets you get away with just about anything. i mean, people are basically wearing construction tape around their waist. and why does it sell? influencers rocking it with confidence. so go out there and rock your own version of construction tape.