series: words
1/6
Bitch. Lame. Fat. Skinny. Insecure. Depressed. Unhappy. Whore. Selfish. Conceited. Too good. Not good enough. Victim. Cold hearted. Ordinary. Damaged. Buzzkill. Fake.
WORDS. They build us, break us, shape us, shake us, empower us, hinder us, inspire us, melt us, woo us, and hurt us.
They only hold the power that we allow them to keep, but for that first few seconds, the bad ones dig and dwell and resonate and rip apart the walls we work so hard to keep out the stuff that hurts.
Words try to label us, confine us, define us, and lie to us. Lies. We are told them and we tell them to ourselves.
2/6
Smear the words that linger longer than they deserve. Do something. Don't let it cover you.
We have to speak up for ourselves. We have to stop accepting labels of hate from anyone around us and stop labeling ourselves with hate. We are not defined by the things we've been called, mistakes we've made, sorrows we've sunken into, or the names we press into ourselves. We are more than the words that have made ripples in our little worlds.
3/6
Be raw... vulnerable, honest, real. Come broken. Come open. Strip away the lies you've let melt into your identity.
We work so diligently to hide the parts that hurt, the wounds that left scars. No one has it all together. No one is perfect or has never been offended. No one is loved by all or protected from pain. No one is the ideal for all. No one is supported by all and discouraged by none. No one is celebrated for everything they are. But... Maybe we could start to change that. Maybe we could catch ourself critiquing and change the direction mid-sentence. Maybe we could start to correct the lies we label ourselves with. Maybe we could work on encouraging more and discouraging less. Maybe we could shine light instead of dull others.
Life isn't a competition or a race or for show. Life is real and happening and not stopping for anyone, and how we treat others and ourselves truly has a ripple affect on the world.
4/6
Wash away the words that are weighing you down.
We need to clean the mess we've made of ourselves and the mess we've let others make. We are weighed down by hate. Lighten your load. Wash it away.
I am broken, but I am beautiful. I am a mess, but I am sorry. I am impure, but I am lovable. I am wounded, but I am real. I am wrong, but I am honest.
We don't have it all together. Be real- it's beautiful. We must take an effort to be careful the words we throw at ourself and at others. We cannot control how people treat us but its up to us what we do with it.
Spread love and shine light and love harder and judge less and work hard to keep hate from hiding in your heart.
5/6
This photo moves me... Not because I took it or like it or am even specifically fond or proud of it as a piece of art. It moves me because of what happened in this moment, in real life. It moves me because it moved Emma. These series shoots feel like a sort of performance art through photography to me. It shows action, progression or regression, live emotions... It shows movement through a series of still photographs.
We all struggle with similar things in very different ways. I had no idea what this would mean to Emma when I asked her to be a part of it. I think that shows something magical that's happening behind doors. I think that shows that life happenings can be viewed as ironic, or they can be viewed as intentional little moving miracles waiting for our eyes to catch them tugging on our heart strings as they web the moments that piece together our lives. I don't think it was ironic, I think it was exactly what I needed to create and say and witness, and exactly what Emma needed to experience and relinquish.
Perhaps this entire series is meant to pierce the hardened heart of one wounded little world of a single human that matters... and that is enough. So thank you.
6/6
Turn it over and sit on it. Squash what isn't empowering you to be your best.
There is so much value in critical things that effectively draw attention to the areas we can work on and better, but there is so much fluff that is extra and merely fueled by hate. If it isn't encouraging you or growing you or confronting you with truth, take the lies and smear them, wash them, and then conquer them. You are above the low blows thrown at you, so don't let them halt you- halt them.
We stand behind the words we use, therefore we hold the power to use them to build instead of break, construct instead of critique, create instead of crush, and love instead of hate.
We are just as much an accumulation of words we choose to use as words that others use about us. Don't let a lie steal the love right out of your heart. It is weak and you are strong.
Hate is contagious, just as love is. Spread what is good. Use your words to encourage not discourage, to empower not dismantle, to fuel not starve, to enlighten not darken, to grow not kill, to honor not judge, to bring truth not lies.
Words work to weave together the story of our lives- let's use them well.
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