Empowerment

Hi darlings,

I hope your weekend was a good one and that you are now ready to make this week a great week!

I have been thinking and I realised that I haven’t posted much in the Inspirational Monday section – out of lack of time, or lack of ideas. Whatever the reason, a post just didn’t make the cut.

However, I wanted to tell you that I still feel inspired, actually, I feel more and more inspired each day. And as I told you in numerous occasions, I tend to get inspired by people, by their actions, their way of being, the way they deal with hardships, everything.

But today I wanted to shift my focus towards a specific inspiration. Towards women that inspire me. I believe that women empowerment is one of the best things that women can get inspiration from.

Understanding that it is not a competition, that we can support and encourage each other, that we can help each other grow, and most of all, that we can learn from each other, is something that I wish every single little girl would grow up knowing.

My mum has always been an inspiration, my rock, my best friend. And she always taught me to be a good person, to see the good in others, to help others. She is also the one that taught me what real friendship is and was the first one to smile for me when I found good friends, that have now turned into my best friends.

Catalina, my friend from home, frequent photographer and editor for this blog, has always, always encouraged me. Between us, as similar as we were, it was always friendship first. We empowered each other, we gave advice, and we ultimately became different, but stayed just as close. So now, we just cheer for each other’s achievements and push each other to do more and more for our dreams.

Ever since I moved to England, I found women that taught me what empowerment was, that supported me through all my decisions and that are now my squad of best friends. I couldn’t be happier to have them and couldn’t be prouder of who they are becoming.

Through all this change and enlightment, however, there was always someone that was next to me. As much as I changed during these three years, I owe a lot of it to my bestest of friends, Deea. Also a frequent photographer here, on the blog, and in real life.

When I met her, I never thought we would get this close, even though we clicked from the first time we started talking. We were just so different. But then, step by step, we opened up, we showed ourselves, layer by layer, we became so raw about ourselves and with each other, that ultimately, we would be thinking the same thing or having the same idea, no need to even say it.

Together, we learnt how to empower each other, how to put ourselves aside and applaud each other’s achievements. She is one of my biggest motivators, but also, always my wake up call. She just purely won’t let me take any wrong step. She knows where I’m heading, what I want to achieve, and she won’t let me stray from that.

And that is one thing that keeps me going. And also what made me want to help others, inspire others. We all have our dreams, our visions, and they are all so different. So why compete? Why not help each other and grow together?

I believe women need to learn how to empower each other. From what I saw, men are much likely to help each other, whereas women fall in the competition trap way easier. It is not a competition. We can all make it.

Find yourself a bestie that is your ride or die. Form a girl squad that will be there to push you back up when you fall down. No, it’s not cheesy, it’s supportive. We’re all adults here trying to figure things out on a daily basis while still seeing our dreams in the distance. Friends will make your journey smoother. You’ll get there, and when you’re on top, you’ll be able to look around and see how proud your friends are. It will be so much more worth it, because they will be proud of the person you’ve become in the process, as well as your achievements.

So today, I raise a glass for women empowerment! May we all empower each other through our actions, through our personalities, through our work ethic, experiences. There is so much more that we can give to others, that we can teach others, and simultaneously, so much more that we can learn from other strong, independent women.

I see strong women wherever I go – at work, in class, at events, through other bloggers. Possibilities are endless, you just have to let them inspire you. Put inspiration above jealousy or envy, and you will see how you see things differently and how it will start helping you!

So, to celebrate empowerment, I shot this photo session together with Deea. We take so many pictures of each other, but rarely together, so, believe it or not, it didn’t go as smoothly as we would have assumed. Turns out we don’t know how to pose together, but we worked on it and gave it our best, and ultimately, they are pictures that sum up our relationship, rather than staged ones, so we surely had a great laugh in the process!

So, to all the amazing ladies out there reading this, you are an inspiration!

Here is to strong women – may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them!

All my love, D.