I AM AUTHENTIC! Lauralee’s Story I love quirky, imperfect people. When someone trusts me enough to share an imperfection or idiosyncrasy, I feel honored. My inner compassion races out to embrace and lift them. The connection between us is deepened. And I love them. But I wasn’t always as kind to myself. There used to be two of me. The first “me” was the person I showed to the world at large, including many of my friends and some of my family. This “me” cleaned up frantically when someone was coming over, ate less when someone was watching, and shared selectively the pieces and parts of my life that I felt were respect-worthy. The second “me” was the person I thought I really was – the person who had gone more than a year without making her bed, who had invited people to dinner and forgotten to show up (twice!), who had struggled with mental illness and sometimes forgot to take her medication, who had scheduled a huge move on her husband’s exact birthday more than once, who had not felt comfortable putting on a pair of shorts since 1987, who had repeatedly overdrawn a checking account, and who had lost her patience with her children on more than one occasion. Generally, this “me” wasn’t allowed to come out and make conversation without the careful placing of strategic filters, blinders, and screens. My patient family, a remarkable group of inspired Relief Society sisters, and my Savior taught me that my true self – the real me - is a wonderful, mixed-up, messy conglomeration of good and not so good components, qualities and experiences. I learned that allowing all of those parts of me to speak, share and show is a blessing to myself and to others. A catalyst for growth. Because I felt safe I was able to begin to share parts of myself that were less than perfect and gradually, I began to see the more complete, quirky, imperfect and delightful me who has always been present! I started to see a committed parent who never remembers the tissues but cries anyway (and sometimes it’s ugly crying) every time she attends school music concerts or dance recitals; a caring stranger who is late to a commitment because she gave up her place at the front of the line at the DMV to a young mother with little children and went to the back to start again; an imperfect early bird mother who regularly wills her eyelids to remain open in order to stay up late talking with her sixteen-year-old night owl; a neighbor, who (with her husband) provided a cell phone, a listening ear, and other important support for a young woman who wasn’t related to us; an unorganized friend who is often searching for her keys or her phone or her glasses but usually finds time to set her own interests aside to talk deeply with a child who needs to know that someone cares. My Savior continues to show me, through the hands and hearts of my Relief Society sisters and my family, that He loves all the pieces of me and that He can work with me and through me – even the imperfect parts of me - to bless others. My Savior is showing me that He really can make weak things and weak people – strong. And when His process to refine me is lengthy, it’s ok to just be me; the real me, the whole me and look toward Him with faith in what He will be able to make of the future me. Because of my family, my Relief Society sisters and, most especially, my Savior, I am learning to be truly… AUTHENTIC! Lauralee is our fourth BEAUTY we are celebrating!! How incredibly BEAUTIFUL is Lauralee?!?! Lauralee you're SO BEAUTIFUL, your smile is so fantastically contagious and I LOVE how genuine you are with everyone!! I was SO impressed with you and your instant willingness to let go and have a great time. I LOVED how excited, happy, fun and upbeat you were the entire photo shoot!! You have this way of making everyone around you feel loved, relaxed and instantly happy. I was OVER THE MOON excited to get to know you better, read your story, connect with you and photograph your BEAUTY!! I just think the world of you my sweet friend and I hope we stay friends forever <3 <3 THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for your courage, strength and happiness in being apart of this very special project to help women all over the world start self-LOVING!! Your story has touched my life and heart and I can't wait to see how many wonderful lives you touch as this project goes forth and progresses. You are an INCREDIBLE daughter of God and it was an HONOR to meet you, photograph you and become closer friends with you :):) LAURALEE, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!! <3 Alexa Taylor-Jay Ogilvie Taylor Jay Photography It is CRAZY SCARY to put your story out there for the world to see, to talk about such hard things/times. But THIS woman is so strong, so courageous and is sharing HER story with the intent to help other women see themselves as God does. To help YOU on your journey to self-LOVING!! If her story, her courage and her heart touches you please let her know by commenting below!! WE LOVE YOU LAURALEE!!!! This photo shoot was a dual effort!! The other master photographer behind this photo shoot and idea is Kelsey Bailey Photography!! Please go 'like' her Facebook page >> https://www.facebook.com/KelseyBaileyPhoto/ and click here to view HER STUNNING PHOTOS of Lauralee Hill and all her Celebration of beauty photos as well from our shoot!! >> https://kelseybaileyphotography.weebly.com/celebration-of-beauty/i-am-authentic-lauralees-story We had a master videographer documenting every little amazing, tender and BEAUTIFUL moment!! Please click here to see Shaun Schofield from DOZE Videos AMAZING BTS video and get excited to see allllllll the beautiful pictures, stories and the grand finale of throwing color COMING YOUR WAY!!!! Please go 'like' his Facebook page >> https://www.facebook.com/dozevideos/ View Shaun's AWESOME BTS video of our Celebration of Beauty project on his youtube.com channel Please click here to see: >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xniy6r68A Taylor Jay Photography - my Facebook page >> https://www.facebook.com/taylorjayphotography/ Here's ALLLL the details below to the why we are posting these women, their personal stories and their journey to no longer self-hating but SELF-LOVING!!!! This is an incredible and inspiring project and we can't wait to take y'all on this journey with us!! <3 <3 >> https://taylorjayphoto.weebly.com/celebration-of-…/the-intro LIKE.COMMENT.SHARE.ENJOY!! Please Like. Comment. Share. Tag. any woman you feel could benefit from Lauralee's amazing, real and raw story!!!!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|