06/19/2024
Please hear me, girl:
When the world breaks you wide open, the sun can and will make its way in.
First, I understand how lucky I am…lucky to do work that sets my soul on fire. I get to make art that people cherish and that makes them feel seen. And in the process, I too feel seen. I am so so lucky. I get to make art for a living, but really, you are the art: the beautiful relationships and experiences you give me simply because I hold a camera. It’s beyond what I ever dreamed was possible as a young girl who simply liked looking at photos. I get to weave your stories into art, and that’s a pretty incredible thing to be a part of.
And, second, I have four kids at home that I call my own, and I get to sit in awe of them every single day. And because I have them, I know that if everything else got stripped away, that I would still have enough. More than my fair share. I am so so lucky. I am a MOTHER and nothing will ever compete with that, nothing close.
But last year was a tough year inside this business of mine. A year ago, I knew that stepping forward from a partnership was inevitable. I had given it all I was and all that I had, but it just wasn’t working.
I purchased a website, that came with a designer, last June. And I couldn’t bring myself to touch it, or sift through my own work, for another ten months.
I had every self doubt you could imagine: was my work good enough to stand on its own? Maybe there was a new photographer to take my place. Did I even care enough to keep making a go at this thing? It takes a lot, and maybe two decades was enough. Did I have enough left in me to keep giving? Maybe I had given too much in the wrong direction. Standing in the best year I had ever had, with more sales and more profit than ever before, I was drowning in fear and hurt and self-doubt.
Or maybe, just maybe, I WAS enough. I just needed…reminding.
I spent six months reassembling self-worth and touched nothing business related. I read books and took classes from every female leader I could think of: books by Joanna Gaines (Stories We Tell), Elaine Welteroth (More Than Enough), Dr. Tererai Trent (The Awakened Woman), Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way), and classes with Marta Stewart, Anna Ducovney, Kris Jenner, Anna Wintour, Melody Hobson, Alice Waters, Judy Blume, Whitney Wolfe Heard. Literally any female leader in any field became my companion. I just needed to be in their light, because I had lost my own, and I needed to use them to help forge my path forward.
The greatest lesson a woman should learn?
‘That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.’
So I’ll now say to you, what I know to be true. And I’ll echo the words of those women leaders. You ARE enough. You were born enough. If you need reminding today, let me be the one who gets the honor to remind you. Those gifts you are harboring? There’s someone out there who needs you and your gifts to heal them.
So ‘bless the thing that broke you down and cracked you open, because the world needs you open.’
Come before me with your babies and your beating hearts and your best days ever, and let’s make beautiful memories together. Let’s see each other with our hearts. Not only in our brokenness but in the strength that comes from having rebuilt.
Let’s let go of the weaker women we were, and step into the women that the universe is calling us to be.
Meet me, broken…and wide open, with the sun shining in ❤
*I would be so honored if you visited my new website and clicked around. The people on there, I love. I hope you can feel the energy behind the shoots I chose. If you aren’t on there, it’s because I had to choose about one image for each year I’ve been in business. A wholly impossible task. But I love you, all who have stood in front of me and beside me, too.
www.iuncharted.com
Pasquariello Design thank you.
*and to the strong women who knew my story and stood shoulder to shoulder with me, how do I ever say thank you enough Ashley Gauthier, Christina King, Sherry Joseph, Kim Huberty, Lisa Metcalf, Kodi Jensen, Emily Davister, Sara Sabo, Whitney Hill Cripe and more ❤️
