“we are all born/ so beautiful/ the greatest tragedy is/ being convinced we are not”
― Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

As I am sure most of you know, I ran a giveaway a few weeks ago to celebrate my blog anniversary. I gave away two sunflower sessions to two beautiful and deserving women. One of those women asked if she could give her session to her daughter, Paislee.

Of course I said yeah.

But I was even more excited when I thought about what this meant.

Paislee and children like her, are a good example of what we once were.

She is adorable. Even when she doesn’t smile, she just has so much energy that it’s contagious. You can tell she loves so fiercely, because the entire time she saw an animal, she just wanted to pet it and take it home.

She acknowledged the beauty in the world, as she ran free spirited from picnic table to picnic table, trying to climb on top.

Paislee was a force to be reckon with.

And it made me think of what I once was.

Did I too not care about what others thought about me so heavily? Did I also run, free spirited and loving of all things?

When I think about it, I think I did.

So what does this mean?

Well, to put it simply, it means that we are taught not to love ourselves. We are taught by our peers and society that our bodies have to be a certain way, that our hair has to be a certain way, and that we can not love everything.

[Tweet theme=”basic-white”]“bloom beautifully dangerously loudly bloom softly however you need just bloom” ― Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey[/Tweet]

But Paislee has taught me, that I don’t have to lose those parts of me.

I can remain care free, and love myself and everyone around me if I choose.

I can choose to not let what others say to or about me impact my soul.

Oh, and I can have all the stray kitties I see.

You can schedule a session with me here.