Week 45: ME & Reflection
If you're a member of The ME Project you've probably heard this story by now. Over a year ago I volunteered to take photos at a Mother/Daughter tea at my son's school. The woman in charge told the whole roomful of people that I would be available to take free photos of the moms with their daughters. Only four women came over with their daughters, and I was baffled. Why wouldn't they want a picture with their girls? When I started asking the women that I knew, their answers made me want to cry. "I look terrible". "I hate the way I look in pictures". "I'm too fat". The list of excuses went on and on. It was on that day that the idea for this project was planted, but I let fear keep me from pursuing it. That was in the month of May 2015.
It wasn't until December of that year, when I was looking for photos of my son, my husband, and I for our Christmas card that it hit me. Something needed to change. I could not find a single photo with me in it! There were thousands that I'd taken of my son, and many taken with him and his dad, but no good ones with me in them. It was then I decided I had to do this project, even if I was doing it myself!
When I started the private Facebook page and started letting the people I knew about it, I would get ridiculously excited each time someone said they wanted to participate! No kidding! "Twenty five people signed up!", I would exclaim to my husband. "I got 50 people!" Each person made me giddy.
Fear kept telling me that I wouldn't follow through - that I would quit, and that everyone in the group would quit too, and yet somehow, I kept proving fear wrong.
You, and this project have shown me that I can push past fear. This project has shown me that doing "small" things can produce big results. I'm not going to lie. I still see the "flaws" in my outward appearance, but this project has helped me to come to greater acceptance of them, and to realize that it is my inner beauty that is most important anyway.
I envisioned this group being full of encouragement, growth, and kindness, but it has far surpassed my hopes. I feel incredibly lucky to know each of you, even the ones who only posted one photo. I feel incredibly blessed by your friendships and I am so grateful that in the great big internet world you found your way to this project.
