Self Care: 7 Tips from a Photographer to Help You Become Your Favorite Human
The mission: Get in front of the camera in a safe, comfortable, relaxing setting. The goal: Stop being so hard on yourself.
1. Face facts, for once in your life.
As much as you try, you will never, ever fully see your own face directly through your own eyes.
Do you ever find yourself asking questions like: How did I end up here on this yoga mat, in a floor length dress, hiding behind a potted aloe plant?
Am I the only one?
Anything can happen when the camera is rolling, so to speak. You start to discover things about yourself that you never noticed before. Like, hey, I might have a thing for feet. (Toes are just so cute, aren't they? Again—just me?) And oh, my face is not symmetrical. At. All. What if I put this plant in front of it?
Next question: Why am I not completely perfect in every way, and really actually, I completely suck? And finally: Who the hello am I anyway, and why should you care about any of this?
Aaaand…the other thing that can happen when you start observing yourself through the lens of a camera is the realization that the camera has its own story to tell and there is no one truth.
So just know your uniqueness is beautiful in and of itself. The varied angles are what make you multidimensional with many facets of discovery and levels of light and dark. Your differences are part of what make you interesting. Your stories, the ones you choose to tell, are what help you connect and engage and make you relatable.
2. Make space. Defy physics.
If you build it, you will chill.
Context is everything. Or maybe, perception is everything. Location, something, something sounds familiar too…In any case, when you want to feel good, it only makes sense to set a scene where good feelings want to come hang out and stay a while.
My good feelings, in particular, really dig uncluttered open areas that are soft, cozy and color coordinated. Bonus points for green plants, light breezes, cute shoes and fizzy drinks.
So, okay, it does take moderate effort to pull it together, and I confess I don't always go the extra inch when it's just me and I just want to fix the chipped polish I've been attempting to ignore for weeks (months?) on end. But I would surely do so for someone important to me who deserves love and attention. Wouldn't you?
In my opinion, and hopefully yours, we all deserve love and attention. So why not extend it to ourselves and be our own heroes?
2. Take time. Just take it.
Now for the hardest part—do nothing.
Once you have your happy place set up just the way you like it, like I know you will, take all the time yo