faith Archives - Remy Photos

Knowing Your Worth

Published on March 12, 2018March 13, 2018 by Remy Photos1 Comment

Do you know your worth…? Have you ever really thought about that before? Have you ever been put to the test about knowing your worth? I always knew what that question meant, but I didn’t know the true meaning of it until I had to step away from all the things I was doing and really take a look at myself. I had to dig deep, I had to be honest with myself, and I had to make some changes.

It feels good to be valued, doesn’t it? But it feels terrible when you’re not. When you are just starting to understand your worth, it can still be hard to make confident decisions about what you’re doing, who you’re working for, or how you’re being treated. After starting my photography business, I had to make some tough decisions. There were times when I just didn’t think I was worth as much as something or someone else, but then I grew to know my value. I have been challenged and tested time and time again. Certain situations and people have come in and out of my life by way of soul-searching and contemplating whether I was adding value or having it taken away from me. There are jobs, moments and people that are put into your life for a reason… they force you to soul-search, test your will, and grow.

I’m sure a lot of you have been in positions where we have felt undervalued and been given unfair circumstances. Let me tell you… I have been there a few times. After a while, it gets tiring. I am all for working hard, going above and beyond, and making a sacrifice for the greater good, but when I don’t get the appreciation or respect I feel I deserve, I begin to feel a lack of value as a whole. After a full year of going full-time as a photographer, I am now confident enough to say that I KNOW my worth. I know what I deserve and I know how I should be valued as a person and photographer. I decided I will no longer give away my hard work, time, and my personal space to a situation that doesn’t create value for both sides. I know that each and every one of you wants to feel that you earn value when you make an investment, and I believe everybody should dig deep to find that source of positive gain.

Now, think about it… Are you also confident enough to say the same? Do you know your worth? It took me a solid year in business to figure it out and I continue to work on it daily; maybe you need some time to figure it out, too. Take a step back, give yourself the time to really think about how far you’ve come in your career. Look at your business and your life. Are you getting what you know you deserve? Think about why you think you should be valued, and the changes you might need to make. Are you making sacrifices that seem unfair? I can tell you now, it’s okay and it’s going to all be worth it in the end. These things happen for a reason… to make you stronger, to teach you how to speak up and stand up. When you’re sacrificing and doing the best you can, you should be so proud of yourself. Just know that the right thing at the right time will be placed in front of you and it will pay off. You are always rewarded in the end.

Sometimes it seems impossible to get out of a situation or lifestyle after being committed to it for so long. I know, I’ve been there too. Weirdly enough, every time I put it in my head that I belong somewhere else or I don’t feel right in a position, I start making natural changes that push me in the right direction and I end up exactly where I need to be. Doing the right thing is never the easiest decision. It takes strength and courage to speak up for yourself and it takes hard work to make your worth a reality. Just know your value and don’t let that slip away from you. When it comes time for a change and you’re ready to step out, that will be your moment. It makes the world of a difference to know your worth and be confident in your strengths. If you don’t recognize your worth yet, maybe you need to make some changes, or maybe you just need space to grow. It takes time to really know and feel it, but I just wanted to get this thought into your head.

With faith, comes joy.

So have a little faith, do the right thing for yourself, and remember you deserve to be valued and you deserve to be happy!

Conquer Your Comparison Crazies

Published on December 5, 2017 by Remy PhotosLeave a comment

Let’s be real here. We all have a natural tendency to compare our successes or our lifestyle to someone else’s. “The comparing monster” has been trending, now more than ever, with social media being shoved in our faces all-day-every-day. What we don’t need in our lives is to feel discouraged, competitive, and sad for no actual reason. We also don’t need other people telling us to “just stop comparing” and move on… I think we need more people to educate us on how to stop comparing, how to let go and let God, and how to move forward rather than letting it slow you down.

In the past year that I have been really building and concentrating on my business, I have also experienced a few similar conversations. I’ve talked with small business owners and found that a lot of their emotions get caught up in comparing to other similar businesses. I’ve heard from some of the most successful and inspiring women and even they get caught up in the ‘comparing world’ from time to time. I’ve also had conversations with friends who are in totally different places in their lives who admitted to comparing their life or career to my own. When I hear something like that, it doesn’t make me feel good, and it just doesn’t make sense. The last thing I want to hear from a friend is that they feel the need to compare their own lives to mine. Why?

Because her success is not meant to be your own. We are all doing life on our own time and in our own way! Whatever God has in store for me, was not meant for you. Whatever God has in store for you, for her, for them, was not meant for me. No one situation is the right way or the wrong way to live life. How can you compare yourself, your success, and your life to someone or something that was not meant to be yours to begin with, and was not on your own time?

Whoever and whatever it is that you feel the need to compare to, it’s time to let that go. It’s time you know how to get past those feelings. It’s time to understand why you should be looking at this as an opportunity to grow and challenge yourself to get exactly where you want to be on your own time.

I want to let you in on a few tips that help me through the struggle of comparing and what allows me to move on in a positive direction.

Get to the point. Let’s say you come across someone’s instagram and you keep scrolling and scrolling until you just feel bad about yourself. Now get to the root of that feeling and figure out why you’re reacting that way. This forces you point what it is that’s making you compare. Now, what needs to change? Do you need to make a change in yourself and the way you think? Do you need to make a change in your business? Get straight the point, don’t dwell on whatever it is you’re comparing to.
Take it as a challenge. After you’ve figured out exactly what’s making you feel the need to compare, take it as a challenge to keep moving forward, to make your next big move, and to work harder to get what you want. Make this an opportunity to get yourself into gear, change your mindset, and work towards those goals!
Let go and let God. Remember, have a little faith. Maybe you just have faith in yourself, or maybe you have faith in yourself and God. Whichever works for you, don’t forget to trust the power of having faith. You have to remember that you have your own path to follow, not anyone else’s. Try to understand that whatever someone else is accomplishing, was not meant for you. Maybe your time will come, or maybe your path will take an unexpected turn. Whatever happens, is exactly what’s meant to happen for your benefit. So cheer that person on, don’t compare or compete, just let go and move on!
Put it down and get creative. This tip is my favorite way to distract myself and then totally forget I was even feeling the comparison crazies. Stop the scrolling, put down your phone, and get creative! So maybe to you, this means you’re going to put your phone away and go hiking to clear your mind in a peaceful environment! Or maybe this means you need to get creative in your business and start a new project to work towards! I love coming up with new projects to keep me motivated and get my creative juices flowing! This will take your mind off of the comparisons and make you realize there’s no need to feel that way when you are doing things your own way!
Time to reflect. Whether you enjoy meditating, praying, quiet time, taking a walk, or whatever you enjoy, do this to put your mind at ease and reflect on how far you’ve come. Think about everything you have accomplished by now compared to last year or maybe a few year ago. Reflect, be thankful, and be at peace with your own success and your own lifestyle. We are all blessed. If you make the time to do this, you will remember that comparing does nothing but make us feel discouraged, and there is no need to make ourselves feel that way. This is your life, and it’s time you own it!

Be proud of who you are, have faith in where you’re going, and remember you are loved. I’m rooting for you every step of the way, friends!

Fear and Faith.

Published on July 28, 2017August 3, 2017 by Remy Photos2 Comments

I read a blog post the other day and it got my thinking. Let’s stop thinking small, and start thinking big. Think outside of your Instagram, outside of your phone, outside of your house, outside of your city, and into the bigger picture. I’m a firm believer in serving others, sacrificing for others and putting your loved ones first. I think that’s an everyday motto, and it’s so important to remember. I also believe that in order to be selfless and giving, you should find your own happiness first. If doing good for others makes you feel unhappy and unappreciated, re-think the situation and think about the bigger picture. Are you unhappy with your lifestyle? Stop thinking you are chained down to your job, your location, your friendships or your relationship. MAKE A CHANGE… like now.

My mom always said, “the only person who can make yourself happy is YOU.” You have to be the one to make the change. Your friends aren’t going to change, your job isn’t going to change, and your life isn’t going to change unless you make it happen. Life is so much more than the tiny space your head lives in, and I too must remind myself of that.

This is what I read in the other blog, and I thought it was beautifully written.

“Leaving opens a new door for change, growth, opportunities and redemption. You always have the choice to leave until you find where you belong and what makes you happy. You’re even allowed to leave the old you behind and reinvent yourself.” -Rania Naim

You are ALLOWED to make a change for yourself, you are allowed to leave where you live or the job you’re in, and you are allowed to REINVENT YOURSELF. I love that. I can relate to all of that. You have every right to make the changes in your lifestyle to be happy, healthy, and feel refreshed. Nobody is holding you back, even if that’s what you’re thinking.

There are a lot of things you don’t know about me… and I think my juicy stories are meant for another day, so let’s talk about something that hugely relates to these issues– FEAR. What are you afraid of? Why aren’t you making the changes you need to make? Like I said before, think of the bigger picture. Get to the root of your fears. Think long and hard about what keeps you from making changes and how you can overcome those fears.

REMY’S FEARS.

Looking at the smaller picture:

Being trapped in the shower with a mosquito. (that happened yesterday. I worked hard to kill it and it just never happened. I came out alive.)
Sea creatures. Seriously, I am deathly afraid of anything that swims beneath me. That goes for tiny little fish too. I can’t do it.
Public speaking. Oh my gosh, you guys. I pray that my little sister doesn’t have a big wedding so that I don’t have to make a speech in front of all those people (so selfish, I know). College presentations were NOT easy for me.

Now, let’s look at my bigger picture fears:

Failure. I’ve been hard on myself since elementary school memorizing the 50 states and getting tested on it. (I passed, thanks to a song my mom came up with.) Now, it’s bigger than that: I think about failing as a business owner. I think about failing as a mother one day. I could fail at a lot of things in life, and that freaks me out, because it can affect the people around me.
Disappointment. I don’t like the feeling of disappointing others or myself. Even the smallest of disappointments give me the worst feeling deep down. That includes anything from making a less-than-savory dinner for my husband to letting a family member down, to making a friend upset, and so on. I also carry a weird amount of anger/frustration inside me when I am personally disappointed (like when I order food that I am super excited for, but it comes out totally wrong or burnt, hehe).
Embarrassment. Literally, I get so embarrassed about the smallest things. That goes for misspelling words in my social media posts, to tripping in a parking lot, to talking about something personal that might seem dumb.

WHY!? Ask yourself, why? Why am I so afraid of failure, disappointment, and embarrassment? I’d like to think it all goes along with my background, and my story. I learned to overcome a lot of these fears, just by going for it. I might still be afraid of these things, but I have pushed myself to get past it by making bold moves. By leaving, choosing happiness, choosing change, and re-inventing myself. I’ve made a lot of decisions in my life that put my happiness in front of my fears. I made the decision to grow and leave the rest behind. Do you know how hard that can be? Because I totally do!!!

If you’re going through this right now, and actively choosing your happiness before your fears, you should be SO proud of yourself!! If you want to make a change, but don’t know how, that’s okay too!! I have a little advice. Learn to just BE. Be alone with yourself, be alone with God if that’s your thing, be open, be accepting, meditate or pray on it, let go and be. If you fight against your ability to overcome your fears, then you aren’t making room for change. I have always lived by the mantra “whatever happens, is meant to happen… just go with flow.” When you find yourself at peace about an idea and feel that it’s exactly what is meant to happen, then let it happen!

I have always been queen of planning my own path. I’m a planner, I like to think ahead and plan for the future. God seems to disagree with me on that, though. He tends to guide me in the exact opposite direction of my plans most of the time. When I have a plan set in my mind, it seems to fall apart when the time comes, and that’s when disappointment sets in. After a few frustrating disappointments, I learned quickly that whatever God has planned for me is what is best for me and it’s all happening for a real reason. That can be scary, right? That’s when my fear of failure sets in. Because, basically, all I think is, “what am I doing, this wasn’t my plan!” Then I realize, this is God’s plan for me, so how could I be set up for failure? So I learn to roll with it, go for it, and put my all into it! That’s when embarrassment creeps its way in. I feel embarrassed when I’m confused or when others are confused about my decisions. That’s when I think, “why do I care so much about what others think…?”

THIS IS MY LIFE. I trust where God leads me, and I’ve learned that leaving, growing, changing, and being open to new opportunities are all part of the bigger picture in life. This path that God has laid out for me has been challenging and pretty much the exact opposite of what I may have originally planned… but gosh it is SO rewarding. To use something as an example, after a lot of obstacles, reasons for swollen eyes, and lesson after lesson, I was guided on a path that led me to my incredible husband. I could have put up fight after fight to make things go how I had first planned, but I let go and I ended up exactly where I belong by letting go and following the bright pink carpet that God rolled out for me. I will be sharing these life challenges and stories in a blog post to come… look out for it!

Think about your fears, what are they? Think about why you are so afraid, and think about how you can overcome them. What gives you inspiration to follow your dreams?This is YOUR time!! You may not think it’s the right time, but I’ve found that the time is never just right. I have faith in you. We all have faith in you. Do you?