Amy
"As an over scheduled business owner and mother of two, I have to say it had been a long (and I mean LONG) time since I had felt like the saucy lady that I once was in the world I like to refer to as “B.C.”(Before Children).
I have been taking my babies to Robin Hickman for portraits since my first was a few weeks old. But when Robin first suggested a portrait session just for me, I balked at the idea. After all, I was still nursing, was a good 25+ pounds over my happy weight and baby belly stretch marks…..Ugh. The idea of having pictures of myself in that much less than lovely state made me shudder. What was Robin thinking? In the end, my love of dress up won, oh, and the idea of having a whole afternoon without children! Sign me up, with much hesitation and cringing.
Without going into details of the actual photo session, I will give a little summary of the feelings that came about from it. I think whether you’re post baby, just have a little extra weight, have grown older or maybe you never had confidence in your female allure, often a point comes with women when we don’t feel as attractive as we once did. When that loss occurs, we carry ourselves with less confidence and assurance in our power as women, which in turn, make us less attractive to others, not because of a change in appearance, but because of the change in how we feel about ourselves and present ourselves to others. It becomes a vicious cycle. Until we can see ourselves as strong, attractive, and sexual women, we can’t portray that to others, mainly our spouses, and often they stop seeing us that way. We’ve all seen the women walking down the street who are not “Ideal” in the world’s view of what a sexy woman should be, but there’s something about her that makes us keep looking at her and not really understand why we think she’s so beautiful. It’s how she carries herself. Even if she’s overweight or past her “prime”, she sees herself as beautiful and so she walks with confidence and we all look at her and admire her.
So the question is, “How do we change the view of ourselves?” The answer; get a babysitter or leave the kids with dad, go to a studio for a few hours and get treated like royalty, hair, make-up, clothes. When I left the studio the day of my photo session, I know I had a swagger in my step. I couldn’t wait to get home and show off my saucy hair, makeup and undergarments to my husband. I wasn’t in the house 5 minutes when my husband said, “What’s up with you? You’re acting different, kind of frisky. Is it going to be an early bed time for kids tonight?” I was beaming, and I know it’s cheesy, but I said, “Mama got her groove back today!”
That was before I even saw the pictures! When I saw the pictures, I really saw myself differently and realized that despite having two kids, saggy, stretchy areas and extra pounds, I was still a beautiful, sexy, and powerful woman. I liked seeing myself that way and I liked feeling attractive. Now I know what’s inside me. The confident woman that carries herself in a way that might get some second looks walking down the street, not because of her stunning beauty and smokin’ hot bod, but because of how she feels about herself and the air of assurance she puts out to those around her. That confident woman is back, and, That is how I got my groove back."
-Amy W
Bozeman