Courage

Life Shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. – Anais Nin (Diary 1969)

What is courage? The dictionary definition is “a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear”.

Carlene, the current Goddess of the Month is an amazing example of a woman with an enormous amount of courage. Most of the time, Carlene’s courage and energy is spent on being the dedicated Mother of not one, but three special needs children. Every day she has to wake up so that she can navigate the world for her children leaving very little time for herself.

I was very flattered when with what little time she does take for herself she chose to do a pin-up shoot with me.

When I asked Carlene to be Goddess of the month, she replied, “I’m a bit hesitant since I’m usually so hard on myself”. I’ve heard Carlene’s inner critic… the first time I photographed her it was very apparent, she was nervous and insecure and made everyone go out of the room as we shot. However, the most recent time that I photographed her, she was quite transformed and her confidence had blossomed. Though her inner critic was probably still in attendance, (as our inner self-critics often are) she had silenced it with her courage.

Once again Carlene draws from her unwavering courage to share her story:

Courage is something I'm still working on, however, being the Mom of three special needs children has definitely given me the courage and strength to do things I never thought I would, including my pinup shoots. My children, although extremely beautiful on the outside, have taught me that what's on the inside is what true beauty is. I have never thought of myself as a "Goddess" but my experience during my shoot brought out my inner beauty Goddess (and thanks to Isis for helping bring that out in me!). It's such a sexy, glamorous, and confidence-building adventure that every woman, especially moms, should experience!

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
— Marilyn Monroe