We Are So Much More

There is more to you than you think.

Somedays . . . most days, I'm the pictures in the grey shirt- just keepin' on keepin' on.

But sometimes, I'm me in my wedding dress . . . and I feel breathtaking.

When you accidentally open the front facing camera.

Why is it that we tend to see the worst in ourselves?

Why do we get so focused on the bad that we can't see the good?

Am I only the mom who got short with her son earlier today because he broke the blind in the bathroom?

Am I just the woman who forgets to change over the laundry?

Am I just the person who wears stained shirts and paint-spattered pants when I don't have to leave the house?

How about messy hair, greasy face, wrinkles, stretch marks, and sagging skin?

Sometimes it feels like these are the things I notice most . . . so is that just who I am?

Post 7am run

The chaos of lunch and trying to keep it all together.

I would proudly stand in the middle of a crowd and shout with a shaking but loud voice with tears streaming down my face, "NO!"

NO!

NO!

I am NOT just a mess.

I am not just frustration and stretchmarks.

I am not just the less than good parts . . . the less than beautiful parts.

I am dynamic and funny.

And I'm pretty, darn it!

I'm valuable and intense.

And that makes me real . . . and that 'real' is beautiful.

Here are pictures of the day to day me. I took these on my phone throughout the afternoon and morning. Normally, these wouldn't be seen on social media, and I'm just fine with that.

But I wanted to prove that with a picture I can show myself, I can show you, that there is more than just bad, tired days. The divine worth that makes us who we are can't be destroyed by the stuff that makes us feel less than.

I know you feel less than beautiful most days.

I'm not the only person who needs to take a shower and get things together.

You are not just the messy, dark parts.

You are so much more.

There is drama and light and shadow and depth and rawness in you.

I've seen it in every single person I've photographed . . . and you have it.

And it is absolutely breathtaking.

Love, Melinda

Photography Studio in Athens PA.

Serving Athens Pennsylvania, Towanda Pennsylvania, Corning New York, and Twin Tiers area.