A Photo a Day for 30 Days

I decided to take part in the 30 day self portrait challenge that the girls at A Beautiful Mess created:
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/07/30-day-self-portrait-challenge.html

I hate taking pictures. HATE. So maybe this will help break the ice for me. Maybe at the end of this I won't feel so insecure. Also I really appreciate the fact that this is a fun & loving kind of project. I feel like may women refrain from taking self portraits because they feel like it is inappropriate or arrogant. I don't think society should shape our opinions and feelings about looking in the mirror or taking a pic of ourselves when we feel pretty. 20, 30, 40....50 years from now, I'm gonna want to look at the younger Valerie and remember what I looked like and felt like at this time in my life. Day 1:

Life

 I am having a really hard time figuring out where I want to be in my life right now. I have been so frozen by fear lately- and by lately I mean the last 4 years or so. I am tired of being afraid of life. I want to live again and feel happy and free. I want to do or not to things without feeling guilt. I do not know why after all the years of therapy I still feel shame and I still view myself as damaged goods. I know I am worth more than that, I just need to really see it for myself. I need to act now but where do I start?

This picture I took last month says a lot about how I feel about my life right now. Staring at something so beautiful yet so blank.

Here we go...

So I am not one to be very open about my life. Sometimes I wanna be but it all seems so scary to me. This is my attempt at opening up. I don't necessarily know who I am going to open up to but hey, if it feels good to type words on this screen then I'm going to do it. So, here we go...

{love}