Battle Scars
Why we should embrace the scars of our lives instead of hiding them
Scars. We all have them! Why do we always try to hide them? We should wear them proudly. Afterall, isn’t it a sign that we have lived thru something difficult and made it! We should be showing those puppies off like badges of completion instead of hiding behind them. But, that just isn’t human nature I guess.
Breast Cancer Boudoir Session
So often I get women in the studio for a boudoir session and they have scars of one sort or another and they ask me to edit them out or pose them so they don’t show. I wish we could all be so brave as my new friend, Robyn.
Robyn and I met in October, fitting month if you ask me, at a conference we were both speaking at. She shared with me she had survived Breast Cancer and wished to have a boudoir session once she healed from her revision surgery. Photographing cancer patients is something near and dear to my heart as I lost my mom to Pancreatic Cancer 5 years ago. I felt an instant connection with Robyn and couldn’t wait to photograph her.
It isn’t uncommon for people not to understand why a woman would want to do a sexy boudoir session without breasts. Let me tell you a few things I have learned about it. Cancer is a thief! I comes in an takes everything from a person. It steals your time, you health, your life as you knew it, your confidence, your ability to do the things you once loved, your freedom, and in this case it stole her breasts. However, there are a few things cancer can take ONLY if you let it. And Robyn refused to let it take her womanhood, her self esteem, or one more second of her life. Her shoot was about reclaiming herself and celebrating who she is and the fact that cancer DID NOT win and no longer has control over her or her life. She is still sexy! She is still a WOMAN! She is still feminine. She is still beautiful. And she chooses to keep LIVING! A woman is so much more than breast size.
When you get knocked down by life you have a choice, give it hell and battle thru it to stand up and say “you hit like a bitch” or let it keep you down. Either way you will end up with scars. Stand up and show those scars proudly then keep on living! Truly live. Enjoy those precious little moments. Celebrate the little wins as much as the big wins, because every win is a win.
Share your journey….you never know who may be in the trenches right now. They may need to know someone went thru the same thing and came out the other side triumphant! If you are the one who is in the battle right now, keep going. You’ve got this. You have a 100% success rate on surviving everything life has thrown at you so far and I like those odds!
Milk Bath Boudoir Session
