Week 3: Emotional ME (Member Photos)
Women are complicated. We are emotional and we feel our emotions deeply. We are joyful, stressed, happy, sad, worried, exhausted, angry, and loving... sometimes all in one day! I'm not sure how the men in our lives can keep up. By reading about these amazing womens' emotions, and seeing their images, we realize that we are not alone. It helps to know that other women are feeling the exact same way.
"Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you've got a big heart and aren't afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength." - Brigette Nicole
Elena Pendell - {emotions} mothering a son with Down syndrome...Guilt ... I'm not doing enough...Anger... it's not fair that I have to do so much...Frustration... I just don't understand his behavior...Sadness... life is hard and confusing for him...Weariness... giving and giving even when I feel like I have nothing left... Courage... to stand up and fight for his needs...Loneliness... so many people don't know what this feels like. But above all I feel love and gratitude for he has taught me what life is really about.
Emma Willich- I don't feel like my mother taught me how to age gracefully. Sometimes, at the end of a very long week - exhausted and stressed - I wonder, "Has this week been so hard on me that now I look like this? What if I don't bounce back?"I wonder who that person is in the mirror. I close my eyes and imagine the person that I look like in my head. Today, I look like that girl.*edited* and this is me {emotional}
Cai Vail - Emotional Me /// Holding on tight- After having my son, I was diagnosed with postpartum anxiety. It’s been an emotional year, in every way, but this past year has in many ways been ruled by my anxiety, and overblown fears of terrible and tragic fates befalling my partner, myself, and especially, my son. This month I have finally taken action to fight against it. My own mother’s untreated clinical anxiety and mental issues defined an often unhappy childhood for me. I won’t let that history repeat itself. I will care for myself fiercely, knowing how important it is for me to be able to care for my children. Fear and emotional martyrdom are not my path anymore. I can hold on tight now, his soft little limbs clinging me back with total love, but at some point I have to trust and let go.
Sara Lowing-Wright- Emotions. What emotions? I have built a wall around myself. It is a sheet of armor. I had to build it when I was a little girl to protect myself. Every time my mom and I had to retreat to a protective shelter to escape my father's wrath; it grew stronger. Each time my father broke windows in our house or put holes in our walls; it grew taller. Every deception; it grew thicker. Every Loss; it went deeper. The thing is, I don't need it anymore and I don't know how to break it down.
Alexis Pickard- In this crazy life of mine it's the little things that bring you JOY. Being a canadian girl snow in winter is something we take for granted. Waking up to 5 inches of the white stuff made me miss home a little less!
MacKenzie Gilliam- -Worry- My life as a mother of 4, was completely turned upside down when my last baby was born. In 8 months, he has had 5 surgeries, with talk of number 6 already. His last surgery was to place a tracheostomy, a man made airway because he couldn't breathe on his own anymore. The amount of times I could have lost him consumes my mind. Every night I sleep with him, making sure he isn't getting it clogged. Making sure his chest is still rising and falling consumes my mind. Sometimes too much. Sometimes things like cuddling my husband, goes to the back burner because I'm just. To. Worried. This post was supposed to be about me, but yet when I think about an emotion, all that floods back are times when he's stopped breathing, or have been bagged to come back to us. Life is purely precious.
Charlaine Williams- I have always been hyper-emotional. I feel excited about life daily and I feel sorrow (especially others) very strongly. I cry at gum commercials, I get angry in a hot second over nothing, but I chill out and am back to myself in half that time. I share a lot of myself online, more than most, I try to be open and honest and always be upfront with my beliefs. That is only because my whole life I have felt like this...hiding my true self. Afraid of what people would think of the true me. Hiding my thoughts and emotions behind a mask that I only peeked through once in a while. What I realized doing that is that the people who "liked" me, didn't even really actually know the real me, including my own husband. I went through a transformation, I decided to not hide my emotions any longer. I don't hide excitement, or happiness, or embarrassment, or shame, or guilt, or love, or joy. It's all out there. Because this was no way to live my whole life. Emotions are what guides you through life, they are how your heart speaks to you and lets you know if you are heading in the right direction. So I share my emotions as a practice, so that every day during my life and interactions with those I love I am also comfortable with sharing my true emotions. That's only fair, I would hate to find out they are only pretending to be someone I love.
Francesca Russell- Is tired an emotion? Just super exhausted these days. In need of down time. Too tired most of the time to laugh or cry.
Brooke Groelle- Happy/Relaxed/awestruck .... Watching the sunset over Sanibel Island.
Loren Haar- Emotional? That’s me. The new drug I’m taking strips my body of estrogen to keep the cancer from coming back. But, it’s making me feel like I’m PMS-ing -- all the time! My emotions are all over the place. Irritable, joyful, angry, sad, pensive…. All of the above? All at once??! The past few days in particular I’ve been feeling very frustrated and sort of blue because I want to look “back to normal” again -- right now! I bought two dozen of these gorgeous tulips because I thought they might cheer me up. They are my favorite flower — they look so delicate but they are surprisingly hearty -- and so fun to photograph. This image represents how I feel about myself right now — hiding inside myself, because I don't feel attractive or pleasing to look at -- almost the way I hide behind my children when I carry them, putting them out front, letting them shine instead of me. Don't worry, I know this is just a phase, a part of this whole experience. I'm working through it.
Kortney Fox- The kids are all snuggled in bed and I finally get the chance during this busy week to take my photo. So here I sit, in the middle of the mess I have to tackle. My second baby just had her third birthday party. THIRD. Which means my youngest one's first birthday is just around the corner and my first baby will be turning 5 shortly after that. I feel my eyes welling with tears. Having children is a roller coaster of emotions. They make me laugh a good belly laugh, frustrate me when they spend all day arguing with each other, exhaust me when the baby doesn't sleep through the night, and make my heart feel like it is going to burst because of the indescribable amount of love I have for them.The scattered toys, kids TV shows, pacifier searching, tiny laundry folding, late night breastfeedings, sippy cup pouring, boo boo kissing, bedtime snuggling moments will be gone too soon. I cry because I feel blessed to be the mother to such amazing human beings, because I will miss these moments that just don't hang around long enough, because I can't freeze time, because this life I have, through the good times and the bad, always finds a way to be amazing. So here I sit, taking it all in, because I know it won't be like this for long. I want to preserve these moments before they become a distant memory, even if that means putting off the mess for a little bit longer...
Adriana Meixner- An emotional ME is in large part due to this guy right here, my best friend/husband. The truth is a life with him has brought forth all kinds of emotions out of me. From the moment I laid eyes on him I knew I was entering a new chapter in my life, one of love, caring, excitement, fear, unknown, desperation, uncertainty, compromise, anger, jealousy, vulnerability, security, sadness, patience but most of all HAPPINESS! This picture for me is a beautiful reminder that nine years later with two young children and a busy but full life leaves little time for each other but when we can sneak in those brief moments is when I find I am most happy - and that to me is the best emotion of all.