Treasure Yourself (4 page)

When I am faced with troubles and filled with doubt, I am grateful for the strength it inspires within me.

When nothing seems to go the way I want, I strive to maintain my composure and be grateful for the

experience. When I let myself experience the feelings that I have, the discomfort passes faster than if I

tried to push the feelings away. When I have truly experienced these feelings my good sense and my inner

wisdom then have the opportunity to guide my words and actions rather than tension overwhelming me.

Once you have accepted your feelings about something, the next phase is a time in which you can use

your imagination to think about what you want to happen next. When faced with a challenge, think of how

success would feel, smell, taste, sound and look. Pick out your colours, your shapes and textures and hold

them in your mind. Nothing in your reality happens without your imagination, without it first being a

thought. This is also the stage where you can focus on the ‘you’ that you want to be as you shed away the

old skin. You might want to learn a different skill to face your challenge, develop more confidence or

even just experience new things in life. These are the things I think about when I am faced with a

challenging situation or inevitable change.

Get ready to fly… When I have a clear picture of what I want, a transformation occurs. I feel empowered

as my wings start taking shape and I feel ready to fly.

Action is what separates the dreamers from those who actually live out their dreams. At first you might

be afraid to take the first step because you fear you might fail, but I think of failure as education – it gives

you the knowledge you need to succeed.

When trying to achieve something you might stumble along the way but this is all part of the learning

process. Just pick yourself up and try again. Like Henry Ford said, ‘Whether you think that you can, or that

you can’t, you are usually right’.

After all that hard work the next step is to prepare yourself to fly. Your crumpled, soggy wings are now

dry so you can expand them and make things happen! Enjoy and savour your success. Then whenever you

face your next challenge reflect on that moment and remember what it felt like to get through it.

Guidance from within… When I’m faced with a challenge I seek guidance from within and surround

myself with people who are loving and supportive. I’m an independent person by nature, and because of

the amount of travelling alone I have done, it has been hard for me to accept that others can be there for

me. I’ve now realised, through my challenges and through the support of my family and friends that we

never really have to be alone. My family is supportive, no matter how good or bad things are. Accepting

that others in your life – friends, colleagues and teachers – are also willing to help if you would only ask

is a true blessing.

Some of my biggest challenges have occurred when I’ve been on shoots. No matter how old you are

there will always be elements of peer pressure around you. I remember one time I was on a shoot with a

group of girls and the photographer was encouraging everyone to go a little wild. I was shocked as to how

far the girls were willing to go to impress the photographer and to show how sexy they could be.

They started throwing food at each other and rubbing it all over their bodies while starting to undress.

It was in this moment I reminded myself that I am in control of my life: no one can dictate what I should or

shouldn’t do or how I should behave.

If you feel pressured, it’s important to take a step back, breathe and really think about your options and

how the situation is making you feel. Ask yourself: “Is this who I really am and am I being true to my

values?” It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Your opinion of you is all that matters. In the situation

that I found myself in, I realised I didn’t need to partake in that kind of activity even though there was

pressure to do so.

When I took a step back it helped keep me in the moment so that I could make the right choice for me.

Knowing your own power, having your own opinions and listening to your inner voice will mean that the

decisions you make will be right for you. You decide how you think and feel about any situation, place or

person.

Getting Personal…

– What has been a big challenge for you?

– How did you cope with it?

– Who helped you to get through it?

– How would you cope with it now?

step out with confidence…

One of the key ingredients to having self-confidence is accepting and loving yourself: being comfortable

in your own skin. If you want to have self-confidence then you must realise accepting yourself and loving

yourself go hand in hand. The more you learn about yourself the more you are able to offer compassion

not only to yourself but to others, and from compassion flows love. When you accept and appreciate

yourself you can handle any situation with class, dignity and respect.

Confidence is something that I have particularly struggled with, especially when I was younger. I

remember when I first started modelling, people on the shoot (make-up artists, photographers, etc.) would

give me compliments and I truly thought they were saying those things because they were just trying to

make me feel good about myself. I wasn’t embracing and accepting myself. I now realise that when

people give me compliments I need to receive them wholeheartedly and accept them as the gift they are.

Sometimes others have the ability to see our inner and outer beauty when we fail to see it in ourselves.

Your authentic self… Trying to hold on to the authentic ‘you’ can be a challenge in today’s world.

Exactly how we identify ourselves is becoming more and more of a priority. We are all familiar with

social media sites such as facebook and MySpace that give us the opportunity to create an identity that we

can show to the public. The amount of information that we can display about ourselves is virtually

limitless and it shows that the value we place on self-image is becoming increasingly apparent. But it’s

also important to remember not to lose who we are under the pressure to conform to social expectations

of what’s acceptable. Everyone has a need to fit in and it can be really easy to sacrifice yourself for who

you think you should be, instead of accepting who you really are.

The genuinely authentic people I know who are happy with where they are in life have a few things in

common. They know their strengths, their weaknesses and accept both. Your authentic self doesn’t have

to be picture perfect for society’s standards. Being the ‘real’ and ‘authentic’ YOU is all that counts.

Confidence is appealing… Modelling is a tough industry and it’s hard to say whether confidence can get

you anywhere, but what I do know for sure is that the girls who have confidence and healthy habits enjoy

themselves much more than those who don’t. I find people who are honest with themselves and the people

around them really appealing. A man or a woman who is confident in who they are, yet completely

relaxed, humble and down to earth, is extremely attractive. Knowing yourself and being real is the best

way to be.

As you become more confident in yourself and your abilities you can face rejection without it being

devastating because you realise that it doesn’t change who you are and what you bring to the world.

There will always be people who won’t accept everything you do or stand for. What distinguishes