“You are the only one that can limit your greatness.” -Some cute Pinterest photo
Something I really had to face this past trip in California was photo confidence. And, I don’t mean looking at a photo of yourself being like “dang girl, you look amazing”. I’m talking about having the confidence to take a photo in front of people and not hating every second of the awkward looks. I mean here’s the thing… at the end of the day taking a photo in front of like seven people staring at you is not a normal occurrence, unless your Beyoncé, which hate to break it to you all, none of us are. BUT HEY if Beyoncé is reading this though, what’s up girl welcome to my blog!! Anyway back to reality… I know some people who totally do not get bothered by the looks and I commend anyone that reads this and is like UHH I’ve never thought this in my life. However, if you are not like those rare exceptions and are like me and can feel a bit awkward strutting your stuff in front of a family of what feels like 20 kids or a group of guys that look like they live at the gym, then welcome to the club! We are happy to have you here!!
Here’s the thing though, I’m about to share with you guys the biggest revelation I’ve ever had in my life. Ready? Here it is… DON’T GIVE A CRAP!! Yup, there it is.. phew I’m glad that’s off my chest, my work is done now!! See you next blog post! Oh, wait, you guys have heard that before? You want me to divulge deeper into this profound thought? FINE, but only because you’re begging me too! I’m about to drop the most well known, cliché knowledge that everyone needs to hear over and over again from time to time. Now, this knowledge does relate to literally anything and everything other than photo confidence but we can’t all have profound realizations relating to extraordinary events.. sorry not sorry (Thank you Demi for that killer song).
So, I was taking a photo at this killer outside mall in Hunnington Beach, California. The view looked out to the ocean and there were one of those look out thingys. I had been talking all lunch to my mom about the photo I wanted to take there (yes, my mom is my photographer on trips, sue me #coolmomsclub). We finally get out of lunch and walk to the look out area that had no occupancy during our lunch time but of course was now swarming with cute couples, screaming kids, muscle heads, and my fav… a little old couples whose job is solely to stare at people. My mom and I mob over there and I was “yeah, no not happening I’m not about to make a fool of myself”, my mom was like “you’ve been talking about this photo all lunch just do it”. She was so right; I hate how she’s always right (Mc Kenzie Mulvaney included this last line to score brownie points with bad ass mom). In that moment I had to decide if I was going to GIRL up and take this photo or continue about my shopping day and have a lacking insta feed.
Well, we could not dream of a lacking feed meaning I did in fact GIRL up. With a mom close by we squaded over and took the heck out of that photo!! In that moment I had flash thoughts of wow everyone’s looking at me and then I realized how much I was enjoying taking this photo (yes it’s the small things in life that bring me joy LOL). Then, I was like why did I fuss so much about this 5 minute moment? When I got my photo I walked away and continued about my day unfazed by those 5 minutes of awkwardness because at the end of the day those minutes don’t matter. The minutes of joy I felt do though, the minutes where I said “I DON’T GIVE A CRAP!”
I’ll give you the short simple version of that thought. Live your life for you and don’t care about the possible stares you may get. Because if you care too much you won’t get the photo you want, or talk to the person you’ve been thinking of going up to, or laughing with your friends to loud, or just anything that you stop yourself from doing because you are to worried about the awkwardness or looking foolish. I encourage everyone to step out of there comport zone this spring, who knows… if you do you might get a insta worthy pic out of it!
XX Love, Mc Kenzie
Love, Mc Kenzie 