Show your true self!

You're shining, beautiful!" photographer Rowan calls out to me with an enthusiastic smile from ear to ear.  I try to ignore the clicking of the camera aimed at me, burst into laughter when I see her in a very impossible position and acutely forget my discomfort and the holding in my belly.  

As I sit in front of my bookcase filled with wisdom, an internal dialogue flashes through my head: 'Why did I want new photos NOW? 
Because last year's photos show me with inflamed eyes, which irritates me. 
'But I wouldn't do this again until I lost ten pounds, would I?' 
'Be honest Nicole, that's going to happen, but may take a while.' '
Can I still go back?' 
'No! If you want others to show up to you then you need to show yourself, not just your expertise but your face, pure as it is.'

After an hour we move to my favorite coaching location. 'What are the pictures for?', asks the woman at the table next to us.  'Oh, for your website, but what do you do? Coaching, really?" she looks from me to the young man sitting across from her. Well, he could use a coach,' she blurts out. 'And so could I'. I laugh 'Well, I could use a figurant later on'. 

A little later I am sitting at a table with Markus, the young man who turns out to be her son. He tells me about his choice of study. 'Let's take a step back,' I interrupt him. 'What is the most important thing in your life?' Thinking out loud, he confides all sorts of things to me, the coach he just happened to meet: '...I want to make people happy...thought of dentist...work in the morning and afternoon off...play the piano ...yes that lady is very nice, but...' I write down his thoughts for him and explain that this is the foundation for the Markus he wants to become and therefore also for his choice of study. 

'But my dad thinks I should also have a study plan B...' I look at his face, 'When you talk about your plan B you look like you have a toothache, while you shine when you talk about your plan A, studying dentistry in Ghent,' I give him back with a smile and a wink. 'If that's what you want then go for it, it's your life'.

'So nice Nicole to see how much energy you get from coaching, I only have to capture it,' Rowan later tells me as we shoot some more photos outside. I am indeed full of energy, what a beautiful meeting that allowed me to just coach and not worry at all about my appearance and that clicking camera. If you dare to show yourself, pure as you are, then beautiful things will come to you,' I chuckle, thinking back to my internal dialogue of that morning. 

When, a few days later, I cast a curious first glance at the photos, I see first of all an energetic, literally and figuratively strong, self-confident and happy Nicole. The very visible double chin and the little squinty eyes are, after a moment of swallowing, simply taken for granted. Anyone who knows me will say 'this is really how I know you'. So, mission accomplished as far as I am concerned; to show myself pure as I am.

Chapeau Rowan, you have done that beautifully! Actually, we are kind of colleagues. We both capture the beauty and the emotion in people. I let the other discover it and feel it as a coach, you show it by capturing it on pictures.  Both of us make contact by showing ourselves, without any doubt and full of confidence, to make it easier for the other to do the same. 

Do you think after reading this ‘I want this too!’  Then contact Rowan for photos or Nicole for coaching.