Day 1
#SelfietoSelfLove: A 5 Day Empowerment Challenge
Day 1: Selfie Tips
(click here for audio recording)
Hi!!
Welcome to Day 1 of the #SelfietoSelfLove 5 Day Empowerment Challenge!! It's finally here!
Lots of this email is going to seem familiar to those of you who have participated in the challenge before. That's because I think a lot of the basics are the same! We need to all get on the same page before we can move forward in this epic transformation that we're about to experience together.
**** Real quick: If you'd like to listen to this email in an audio recording, click here: empowermentphotographer.com/selfietoselflove It's under 10 minutes long! You can listen while you're driving your kids to school, or while you're doing dishes! ****
Today is all about getting confident in our selfie game. I want the act of taking a selfie to be something we're all feeling good about so we can then do some bigger and deeper work, like learning to connect with ourselves through our selfies! (Ya know, no big deal, just going to be doing things like transforming our relationships with our brains and our bodies, basic things like that!)
And now, as I've been promising you, let's learn how to take selfies with more confidence! Here are just a couple of my tricks - for the rest, go to empowermentphotographer.com/selfietips (there's so many more tips over there, so do go take a peek!):
Phone/camera/selfie tips:
1) Find your light - hold the phone up in selfie mode and then spin around to find the light you love most (bonus tips: look for even light, not sun/shadow patches; face TOWARDS a light source, unless you're outside in lots of light, and then put the sun behind you)
2) Find the actual camera. Take a moment and look for where the selfie camera lens is on your phone! It's so easy to watch yourself, or accidentally be looking at the flash instead of the camera - this tip makes a huge difference!
[Tips #3-5 are over at Selfie Tips]
6) Take a bunch of selfies in a row before you look at any of them, review, and then take more if you want to! Seriously, quantity is key (or at least it is for me! I loosen up as I go, and find that I usually like my 20th selfie more than my first! Doesn't mean the first is bad, but I'm able to show up more like myself as I relax into it.)
Posing tips:
1) Get ready in your mind to smile - think happy thoughts, or imagine you're posing with someone you love taking pictures with! I tend to smile more naturally when I'm taking a picture with someone else, so I imagine I'm taking the picture with a friend or my son!
2) Try different angles - move your chin up, down, and all around, or keep your head in one place and move the phone! Soften your shoulders - or wiggle your shoulders around - try all sorts of combinations until you find what you love! Take pictures as you make adjustments with your body, and notice which poses you dig most.
[Tip #3 is over on the Selfie Tips page]]
4) Imagine that you are wiggling ferociously as you take your picture (but just on the inside, or else your photos will all be blurry! Though, maybe a photo that is blurry from joy is actually the ultimate selfie, so never mind me, wiggle on!)
If you feel like it's not working:
1) Put your phone down and try again in a minute - sometimes we just need a chance to reset. Maybe even listen to the Day 1 #SelfietoSelfLove Empowerment Pep Talk again!
[Tips #2 and #4 are over with the other Selfie Tips -- #2 is a particularly good one, I think!]
3) Dance, make a goofy face, wiggle around - give yourself permission to have fun with it, and know that your personality shining through is more than enough to make it a perfect selfie!
✨And now, on to our Day 1 #SelfietoSelfLove Prompt!! ✨
Today, your challenge is to implement as many of these tips as you want, and take as many selfies as you want, and then choose your *favorite* to post in the Empowerment Studio on the Day 1 thread. And then scroll through the comments and leave compliments for at least three other people who posted!
A couple of ground rules to consider for this selfie:
1) No Snapchat, Instagram, or other filters of any sort. Let's not hide behind something that modifies our faces! (Yes, this is vulnerable! It's a challenge, remember? But also, you can do this!! Remember - you are going to be posting this selfie in our loving Empowerment Studio facebook group! You are accepted and celebrated exactly as you are in there!)
2) No one else in the photo with you - no kids, no partners, no animals. No Chipotle burrito (mmmm 🌯😋). You get to be in the spotlight, baby (remember! safe, loving space!!) -- this is your chance to take up space and not have to share it with anyone else. You can do it, I promise.
3) No goofy faces! You KNOW I'm all in on being goofy and ridiculous, and I've even been known to make a ridiculous face in a selfie from time to time. But this week, we're going to leave that behind. It's a protective layer that we don't need right now. I'm not saying you have to smile - you can be serious or sexy or cozy or sad or mysterious or neutral! But let's allow ourselves to show up without hiding behind a silly face, just for this week, and see how it feels!
Okay, my darlings. That's a wrap for Day 1. Let's go get our selfies on!! Here are your next steps:
1) Visit this link: empowermentphotographer.com/selfietoselflove
There, you'll find:
- a screen recording of me doing a selfie video and then screenshotting it and cropping it to make a selfie
- a quick Empowerment Pep Talk audio recording for you to listen to to pep yourself up to take your first selfie for this challenge
2) Listen to the Empowerment Pep Talk, and start getting into the right brain space to take your selfie.
3) Take that selfie, my dear! Refer back to this email (and my Selfie Tips page - http://empowermentphotographer.com/selfietips) for little tweaks you can make to find your light and your pose. And most importantly, PLEASE be gentle and kind with yourself. You are a deeply beautiful human being, whether or not you feel like that shows up perfectly in your final version of your selfie.
4) Now, head over to the Empowerment Studio, look for the Day 1 #SelfietoSelfLove prompt post, and drop your selfie in the thread. This might feel a little scary, but remember: we've got your back! You can do this!
5) Compliment at least three other people who posted. This is a group effort, and so much of what is amazing about this is knowing that we are all going to lift each other up. Remember to give gender-neutral compliments (avoiding words like "lady" and "queen"), unless you know someone's gender identity for sure!
Let's do this thing together. I'm so excited to see all of your beautiful faces in the studio. We are going to have such a great time this week. Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure. Let's make some major magic happen together!
YAYYYYYYY! See you in the Empowerment Studio!!
- Kinzie
PS Don't forget I'm going live at Noon CST in the Empowerment Studio every day this week to go over some of these tips (so many of them are visual!) and to cheer you on as you embark upon this epic, transformative experience! See you there!
PPS Please reply to let me know what you think of these selfie tips, and tell me if you listened to the audio recording or read the email. I'm so curious about your experience, and I promise I'll personally read and respond to every single email! I truly want to hear from you!!
PPPS Didn't mean to opt-in to this round of the Selfie Challenge? Or is this not quite what you were expecting? Easy peasy, you can unsubscribe from the challenge easily in your email! That said, if you're contemplating opting-out, consider if there's a way to make this challenge work in your week. It's just 5 minutes a day, and showing up for yourself and the other members of the Empowerment Studio is a HUGE gift for everyone involved. Come join us, if you can. I'll be so glad to have you. <3
Day 2:
#SelfietoSelfLove: A 5 Day Empowerment Challenge
Day 2: Find Your Wiggle
(click here for audio recording)
Hello again !!
Welcome to DAY 2 of the #SelfietoSelfLove Empowerment Challenge!!!!!
**** Real quick: If you'd like to listen to this email in an audio recording, click here: empowermentphotographer.com/selfietoselflove It's about 5 minutes long! You can listen while you're driving your kids to school, or while you're doing dishes! ****
This is a big deal. We are doing this thing together. We are stretching and growing and showing up HARD and it's really the most beautiful thing.
I admire each and every one of you who showed up yesterday, in whatever capacity, to our challenge. Whether that was posting a selfie and diving into the comments, or if you sat on the sidelines and soaked up all the love -- your presence was so valuable and I'm grateful.
If you haven't posted your Day 1 selfie, no worries!! You can easily catch up on your selfies in the Empowerment Studio! You have all week to post and compliment the others!
And now on to today's #SelfietoSelfLove SELFIE PROMPT!
⭐️TODAY, your challenge is to take a selfie using yesterday's tips and tricks (yep, basically the same challenge as Day 1), give epic compliments to the others who post, and THEN circle back to your own post to RECEIVE the compliments. ⭐️
You can use all of the fun tips and tricks we learned about yesterday for your selfie - http://empowermentphotographer.com/selfietips.
And now, let's talk about receiving compliments. A compliment, if you let it land, can change you.
But we don't always let them land, do we? "Oh, yeah I got it on sale." "Thanks but I don't really like my nose." "That's just how my eyebrows grew!"
NO! TAKE CREDIT! You grew your whole body, you take care of it, you exist in it. Take some damn credit for the magic of it too!
*ahem*
As I was saying, letting a compliment land can create some big transformation inside of you -- if you're feeling open to it, and if you let it in.
But what does that look like? What does that mean? How do we do this?
One way is by saying a very simple, "Thank you." Thank you acknowledges, accepts, holds space. (You can be squirming as much as you want to be, on the inside, while the Thank You floats out into the world.) "Thank you" allows the compliment to continue on in the world, almost like a tuning fork that rings, and never stops, because no one ever stops it.
Once you've practiced that a bit, it's time to move on to the advanced course: Compliment Accepting 201!
Repeat the compliment back to them! "That shirt looks great on you." "Thank you, I love how it looks on me!"
"You really found your selfie light." "Thank you, I spent a while looking around for the light I liked best and I'm happy with where I ended up!"
"You are so beautiful." "Thank you; I AM so beautiful!"
See?????? It's GOOD, right??!
Now, I know this prompt might be a little tricky (this is not what we are trained to do in our society!) but don't worry - that's what this safe, supportive Facebook community is for! We get to practice! We get to step out of our comfort zones in a space that we know the folks around us are going to hold us up, and take good care of us. We won't let you fall. <3
Also, I'm going to help you even more!! In today's LIVE (at noon CST in the facebook group!), I'll be talking even more about compliments. Giving them, receiving them, and sharing some examples of some of my favorites!
Truly receiving a compliment can disrupt your thought patterns. It can create a chaos inside of yourself, and that chaos can turn into a wiggle, and that wiggle can create some very big change and transformation.
And then, you are unstoppable. It all starts with the wiggle.
Alright, my dear. It's time to take our selfie. This one is pretty easy, in a lot of ways, because you already did it yesterday! For Day 2 -- it's the compliments that are going to push us (though showing up in a selfie is also pretty push-y for some of us! And that's awesome too!).
I strongly recommend that you listen to the Empowerment Pep Talk that I've got linked up here, before you take your selfie: http://empowermentphotographer.com/selfietoselflove - I guide you through finding your wiggle, and THAT, well, that's some selfie magic right there!
Just like yesterday, remember: no filters, no one else in the photo with you, and no goofy faces. I know this was a challenge for some of you yesterday, but ..... isn't that kind of the whole point? It's a challenge, and we can learn and grow and do this together!!!!!
Once you've taken your selfie, come on over and post it in the Empowerment Studio. And a few of you have done this already, but I would be just THRILLED if you'd share your selfies on Instagram, or in your Instastories. We'd love to share your photos in our stories so we can celebrate the heck out of you! Tag @empowermentphotographer and hashtag #SelfietoSelfLove so we can see your post!!
Be kind and generous with yourself today. You are so worthy.
I love you,
Kinzie
PS Don't forget I'm going live at Noon CST in the Empowerment Studio every day this week to go over some of these tips and to cheer you on as you embark upon this epic, transformative experience! See you there!
PPS Didn't mean to opt-in to this round of the Selfie Challenge? Or is this not quite what you were expecting? Easy peasy, you can unsubscribe from the challenge here: Unsubscribe. That said, if you're contemplating opting-out, consider if there's a way to make this challenge work in your week. It's just 5 minutes a day, and showing up for yourself and the other members of the Empowerment Studio is a HUGE gift for everyone involved. Come join us, if you can. I'll be so glad to have you. <3
Day 3
#SelfietoSelfLove: A 5 Day Empowerment Challenge
Day 3: Trust
Hello you incredible human being,
**** No audio recording today, because my kid has a high fever and I've gotta tend to him instead of record. I'll try to have one again tomorrow! **** [If you've been enjoying listening to the audio recordings, I would love it if you hit reply and let me know! I'm never really sure if anyone is listening to them and I'd love to hear!]
We've spent two magical days together, and the party is only just beginning. Before you read on, I'd like to ask you something. I'd like to ask you to trust me on this Day 3 Challenge. Implicitly. To trust that I know the Empowerment Studio, and that I know YOU, and that I know what you are capable of. To trust that we are going to take amazing care of you as you continue on this empowerment journey.
Let us hold you. Deal?
Time to bust out some summer bodies for these photos! (How do you get a summer body? Have a body! In the summer! Voilà: a summer body!)
🤗🤗 FYI, this challenge was originally going to be a summery/SEXY selfie but people keep getting their facebook accounts banned (like I did!) for showing too much continuous skin, and I don't want to risk it! For fun: I'm including the photo I got banned for at the bottom of this email. Look at my very delicious rolls and soft, curvy body. I am in love with this picture of myself. 😍
And now, on to the challenge!!
🍑🍑🍑🍑
Today's #SelfietoSelfLove Empowerment Challenge prompt is to take a Summer Selfie* and post it in the Empowerment Studio.
🍑🍑🍑🍑
*This can be a swimsuit selfie, or a tank top/bra/crop top/shorts/whatever-version-of-clothing-feels-fun-and-maybe-a-bit-boundary-nudging-to-the-person-who's-posting-it selfie.
The point is to use this photo to take a chance with your outfit and your body in the most supportive environment I can think of. You get to take up space in your glorious today-body.
It's summer: time to try new things, and let your skin breathe! (Within reason, because the facebook censor-bots are out strong right now!)
You get to decide what a Summer Selfie looks like for you! This is your chance to explore a little -- and possibly to boundary-nudge yourself a bit. I'm kind of newly obsessed with this concept of boundary-nudging! What a visual that is! Like, oh hey here's my boundary, I'm just gonna like, lean my butt into it a little bit.
Decide what this challenge looks like for you (what comes up in your heart/brain/gut when you first heard this challenge?), and then do that.
-- For one person, it might mean taking a selfie in a bikini -- and maybe it's the first time you've worn one in a lot of years!
-- For another person, this might be about taking a chance to try on a crop top, or wear a pair of shorts when you're used to wearing pants, and rocking out a bit more limb than you're accustomed to in your selfie!
-- This might mean you want to go outside, spread your body towards the sky, feel the sun on your skin, and take a sun-soaked selfie.
A Summer Selfie - what does that mean to you??
This means our photos are going to be very different from each other's today! How cool! It means that some people will be showing a lot of skin, and some people will be quite covered. That's okay! It's not up to us to decide what is bold or fun or exciting for another person - try to really tune into yourself and what you need in the body you have here with you today.
Now, I want to give you a pep talk.
Something this open-ended can simultaneously be really easy to phone-in, or on the flip side, it can seem so daunting that you just won't ever quite do it. I invite you to acknowledge that moment, or that feeling, or that impulse (whatever it is!) -- say "thank you" (because that impulse has been serving you well in some capacity), and then release it, step into yourself, and go take your selfie. Rawr! You can do it!
Let's indulge in this, and let's have some fun! Let's push ourselves a bit, in ways that feel good. Let's take peace in knowing how safe we are here, and then all choose, together, to do something to move us all one more step forward in this Empowerment Challenge.
This is something we can all do. Yes, including YOU. And we get to do it together. We are in such excellent company.
So let's do this thing, shall we?
A couple ground rules:
Some things that a Summer Selfie IS:
✨ exciting, bold, daring, or fun for you in some way (aka boundary-nudging 😍)
✨ summer-y!
✨ totally different based on whose selfie it is -- and their needs today
Some things that a Summer Selfie MAY NOT be/show (at least in ones that you post):
🚫 no nipples (dang facebook! #freethenip)
🚫 no crotches/vulvas/pubic hair
🚫 as always: no filters, no one else in the picture with you (not even your cat!), and no goofy faces
Summer Selfie Tips!!
Clothing:
- Wear as much or as little clothing as you want for this photo, but do make sure you feel great in whatever you're wearing. Add or subtract clothing to find what you feel best in!
- Wear *at least* something on your top half and something on your bottom half of your body. Hopefully that will keep us from alerting Facebook's censor-bots!
Posing:
- Include or try to feature one of your favorite body parts/something you love about yourself - if it's something you love about yourself, you will feel more confident as you're taking the picture
- Move that phone around again, and shoot from a lot of different angles
- Use a mirror if you want to! That's a great way to get more of your body in the photo
- Arch and twist and bend and wiggle to find your pose - you never know what combination body parts and angles you'll enjoy in a final photo
- Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself! Taking selfies can be a ridiculous experience, and you are doing an awesome thing by trying! Now have fun with it!
Alright, my friends! Don't forget to be kind to yourselves as you are posting these selfies, and let's blow up the group with our love for others in the comments.
Happy Hump Day! ;)
- Kinzie
PS Don't forget, I'm going LIVE again at noon CST -- and I want to have a conversation about bodies with you. So show up live if you can, and we'll continue the conversation in the comments!
PPS We're LOVING seeing your selfies on Instagram! If you feel like sharing, please tag us - @empowermentphotographer / #SelfietoSelfLove <3 <3
PPPS I'm opening up a new round of boudoir sessions available for end of July-October. If you want in on that, reply to this email and let me know. I can send you all the information about booking a session!
Day 4
#SelfietoSelfLove: A 5 Day Empowerment Challenge
Day 4: Flow
Hi !!!!
It is SOMEHOW already Day 4 (it simultaneously feels like Day 2 and Day 7,000 all at the same time, doesn't it??!) and I am just blown away by you all.
Now, I KNOW yesterday was preeeeetty challenging for some of you, and VERY challenging for others of you, and a few of you, it seemed to come a bit easier to (but we never know what's going on behind the scenes, do we?).
Y'all. THIS SHIT IS VULNERABLE AND HARD SOMETIMES. Dealing with our bodies, pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones, challenging our own understanding of ourselves -- in case you didn't realize it, by participating in this challenge, you are doing ALL OF THESE THINGS. If you haven't already, please give yourself a round of applause. You're doing this thing!!!!
🌻 Today's #SelfietoSelfLove Empowerment Challenge prompt:
1) do a guided flow pose
2) take a Whole Body Selfie (in the mirror or stretch your arm out real long!)
3) Post it to the Empowerment Studio, along with three compliments about yourself. 🌻
I guide every client that I photograph through Flow Pose. And I wanted to figure out how to bring it to all of you. So here it is. This is an audio recording, so plug in those ear buds and take a listen! It's just under 10 minutes long, and I know that's not SHORT, per se, but it's also shorter than like, a workout! Or a Netflix show! Or how long you'd hit the snooze button, basically, right? (Especially if you hit it twice?)
Can you make time for this today? ---> Flow Pose
I want you to take up space as a woman or a femme. Touch your body, claim your body. Fill the frame.
When you're posting your photo: DON'T TELL US IF ANYTHING ABOUT IT IS CHALLENGING FOR YOU! Let that just exist in the photo. The focus is going to be in the compliments you give yourself. Just like you've been doing for others all week -- now it's time to turn it around and compliment yourself.
When you're complimenting others: DON'T GUESS IF ANYTHING IS CHALLENGING FOR THEM IN THE PHOTO. Don't reassure them (because we aren't guessing what they would need reassuring about!). Do make bold, unique, and specific compliments - about different body parts than you might normally compliment; about non-physical things; about energy and tenacity and strength.
We're gaining momentum, as humans. Let's soar together. I believe in you.
xo,
Kinzie
PS Don't forget, I'm going LIVE again at noon CST in the Empowerment Studio! See you in there!
PPS We're LOVING seeing your selfies on Instagram! If you feel like sharing, please tag us - @empowermentphotographer / #SelfietoSelfLove <3 <3
Day 5
#SelfietoSelfLove: A 5 Day Empowerment Challenge
Day 5: Flow
Day 5! We've done it!!!! YOU'VE done it!!!!!!!! One more day to go!!!!
How are you feeling? Are you exhausted? Totally pumped up? Drained? On top of the world? Have you experienced a radical transformation in yourself this week? What challenges have you faced? I would LOVE it if you would hit reply and tell me what your experience with this challenge has been. Would you ever want to do this Selfie Challenge again?? If so, why?
We've had a lot of selfie practice this week. And you know one of my tricks is to take a million pictures of yourself and then go back to choose one that you love most! That's super valuable. AND NOW we're gonna challenge ourselves on that one too. Mwahaha. 😉
*******
Today, your challenge is to take ONE selfie of yourself and then post it. No redos, no do-overs, no editing, no filters, no nuthin'! (Gonna have to work on the honor system here, because I can't creep your phones.) One picture; post it.
With the picture, post a Really Good Compliment about your photo, based on things that you can see IN THE PICTURE. Think of it as complimenting a perfect stranger - you can only go off of what you can see in the picture.
*******
🍑 Just like always, remember: no filters, no one else in the photo with you, and no goofy faces.
Keep in mind - you may not love the first photo you take! Post it anyway!
[I literally just looked through the first picture of the sets of selfies that I've taken recently and, to be honest, cringed a little bit at the thought of posting some of them in the group! Even though you might all look at them and be like, "Kinzie, you're ridiculous! These photos of you are all totally fine and postable!" The thing is -- *I* am capable of finding something I don't like in every single one of them. WHICH IS EXACTLY THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS CHALLENGE, ISN'T IT??! (Woof.)]
That's what we're doing here. Shedding light on the fact that we are so hard on ourselves; beginning to release that narrative, and replacing it with a kinder one. It takes practice, and we can do it.
And the cool thing is, we get to continue that journey. Whether it's in the form of ongoing selfie magic, or because you decide to book your life-changing Empowerment Boudoir experience with me... If you keep doing the work, you'll begin to see yourself in a new light. And that, my friend, is everything.
So, my dears. It's time for our final selfie of the week. Day 5, let's thrive! (I just made that up, but it's got a pretty good ring to it, doesn't it? Definitely going to borrow that for the subject of this email!)
I love you all with my whole heart. Thank you for showing up - for me, for our community, and most importantly, for yourself.
xo,
Kinzie
PS Don't forget, I'm going LIVE again at noon CST -- and this one is extra special. I'm announcing a new thing that I'm REALLY jazzed about, and after this impactful week, I really think you won't to miss it. Tune in!!!!!
PPS We're still LOVING seeing your selfies on Instagram! If you feel like sharing, please tag us - @empowermentphotographer / #SelfietoSelfLove <3 <3