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Like many people, I struggled and still at times struggle with body image. I have done a lot of work mentally to overcome how I thought negatively about certain aspects of my body. Unfortunately, I grew up in a time when women were supposed to be thin and focus on a diet instead of being healthy. After I had my son, and my body changed from what I knew I started looking at my body with a new sense of self. I was proud of how it looked now because I had this amazing boy that I housed in my body. While he is a little boy now, my body is still the same. The insecurities are still there but I tell myself that it did something awesome and I love every aspect of my body.
I wanted to celebrate my new sense of self and I have wanted to do a boudoir shoot to celebrate my body. I finally was able to do it and holy cow, did those nerves and insecurities pop back up. Leading up to the photoshoot I had some hard days trying to convince myself to actually do it. These are the things I did to help myself prepare for my shoot to beat my insecurities.
Connect with your Inner Muse
What makes you feel great? How you dress, how your hair is done, how your makeup is? I looked into myself and realized that my husband has been my biggest champion for my self-esteem. It has helped me a lot to have him in my corner telling me on my hard days that I am beautiful. I looked inward and found that he was my muse for also wanting to do this. I planned for my shoot to be something to make me feel powerful and celebrate where I am at this point in my life.
Positive Affirmations
Tell yourself you are beautiful. You are strong and you don’t take stuff from anyone. I would tell myself every time I had those little thoughts sneak in that I am strong and I would regret not taking this opportunity to show myself I am beautiful. Those positive affirmations really helped me prepare for the photoshoot.
Feel Comfortable
While I did choose to pose in lingerie, many women don’t have to. You can dress in anything you want to make you feel powerful and comfortable. Once I decided what I wanted to wear, I made sure that I was also comfortable with what I chose. I would try on the whole outfit and make sure that I felt ok physically as well as mentally.
Honor Your Life’s Journey
This is about celebrating you. Your journey in life, where you are now, and how you feel about yourself. Honor the way your life has brought you to that moment. I wanted to have the pictures to look back on and know that I loved my body and how it changed for me over the years.
The Day of the Photoshoot
The shoot was so much fun to actually do. I also loved the ladies at the studio. I had my photoshoot at Kent Smith Photography near Columbus, OH. They made me feel so comfortable and made me laugh to help ease the nerves I was feeling the day of. My photographer listened to certain poses or themes I wanted to do for my shoot. She delivered on them all. She also asked me what I wanted to listen to for music so we were jamming out to popular 2000s songs. My makeup artist provided by the studio also did an amazing job on my hair and face. I really did feel powerful and beautiful. I walked out of there feeling amazing and so excited.
Looking back on the shoot 4 months later…
I still feel so excited about what I felt during and after the shoot. I gained confidence in what I thought of my body. When I still have some insecure days, I look back at the photos and can’t stop smiling at how I feel seeing myself like that. I felt empowered with what I decided to wear and I was no longer second-guessing my clothing options or what I would wear out of the house. I really felt that I had a good amount of confidence in myself before the photo shoot and that’s why I wanted to push myself to do it but I gained a whole different perspective of myself after it.
In conclusion, my boudoir photoshoot journey has been transformative in ways I never expected. What started as an opportunity to challenge my insecurities ultimately became a celebration of self-love, confidence, and empowerment. From embracing vulnerability to feeling more connected with my body, every step helped me realize that I am enough just as I am. If you’re hesitant or unsure, I encourage you to take the leap—whether through a photoshoot or another form of self-expression. You deserve to see yourself as the incredible person you are, and sometimes it just takes a little push outside of your comfort zone to make that happen.
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