Have you learned to prioritize self-care?
Today’s Show Your Spark Fierce After Forty participant has! But it hasn’t always been easy.
Learning to prioritize self-care has been a predominant message we’ve heard from our Fierce After Forty Participants. For many of these women, they spent their youth and 20s and 30s placating and serving others, never prioritizing their own self-care. The result? Each of these women felt run down, less than their full selves, and with a big question to answer: “Will I prioritize myself?”
Meet Spark Alumni Sara, a thoughtful, empathetic, and loyal woman whose journey to prioritizing self-care is truly inspiring. Despite facing challenges and prioritizing others for much of her life, she has emerged stronger than ever. In this interview, she shares her story of overcoming adversity, learning to value herself, and embracing the power that comes with being a woman over forty.
Continue reading to learn more about her experiences, the wisdom she’s gained, and the fierce spirit that defines her today.
Learning to Prioritize Self-Care
“I grew up sort of surrounded by chaos to a certain extent. As a result, I learned to prioritize others’ needs, never prioritizing my own. Eventually, a breakdown forced me to seek therapy. Learning to put myself first has been a challenging journey filled with setbacks, but I’m celebrating small victories and finding strength not just in surviving, but in actively growing and changing.”
“Fierce is Powerful”
“The word fierce evokes strength and power. There’s this fierceness about protecting and supporting the people you love. There’s just something really powerful in that. So, I’m starting to equate fierce with powerful.”
One Important Lesson Learned After Forty
“I’m proud of being able to continue to move through adversity while creating a lot of the coping mechanisms or personality traits that I have, but without allowing those adversities to define me. I look on them as opportunities to reflect, learn, and shed those things I no longer need.”
“Since entering this decade of life, I’ve learned how important it is to value yourself. I think I always logically knew that if you don’t put yourself first, then you don’t have anything else to give. But I didn’t live that for a lot of years, and now I’m learning how to value myself. I’m also learning that the story I tell myself about me is more important than the story I tell myself other people are telling about me.”
Knowing Who You Are
“I want others to know that age doesn’t matter. It’s about the experiences of your life and what you are doing with those experiences, what you’re learning from those experiences, and then what you’re putting back out into the world. I think being a fierce woman in her forties is no different from being a woman in her twenties who is fierce because it’s about the core of knowing who you are and solidly holding on to that. That’s being fierce at any age.”
Embracing My Self
“In the coming years, I’m looking forward to continuing to settle into my sense of self and taking the opportunity to meet new people and expand my viewpoints. I’m looking forward to continuing my growth journey, but from a different perspective than I did before without the false timelines and societal expectations. I’m going to continue this journey at my own pace.”
Letting Go of the Past
“Being a part of the Fierce After Forty Project has been liberating for me. It’s helping me really let go of the baggage of my past – which is hard to do because in a sense they bring a level of comfort and security, like that favorite sweatshirt. This project is helping me to remember that I can let those things go and embody a lot of what I logically know and have been learning to embrace in my body– it’s that mind-body connection.”
Pushing Against Societal Norms
“Being a part of a project that highlights the beauty and strength of women over forty is important because it pushes against societal norms that say that a woman’s value is based on what they have to offer in service to others. There is this whole idea that women somehow depreciate with every year that they get older circulated through the media and society overall. We’re slowly breaking that apart with projects like these. It’s important for people to embrace who they are and show that they still have value even as they age.”
Advice to Younger Self
“If I could give advice to my younger self I would tell her, “You have value beyond what you can do for others.” I think having that centered belief would have made a difference in how much I gave of myself to others and how much I didn’t save for myself.”
“That’s me!”
“I chose my Fierce After Forty portrait because it’s a little off-center, which is just a little like me– always going on detours in life. My body looks confident and comfortable in a power pose, yet because I’m not looking straight to the camera there’s a dreamy quality to my face. That’s me. I love it.”
The Fierce After Forty Project, designed by Show Your Spark Photography Studio, seeks to highlight powerful women over Forty through photography and storytelling. In doing so, we inspire countless other women to embrace and celebrate their journey, bodies, and power – no matter their season of life.
If you want to show off your After Forty Fierceness, contact us today!
Remember, you are powerful, courageous, and one of a kind! Show Your Spark!
Here’s what to expect when you contact us!
- Schedule a free consultation call to have all your questions answered and start planning your Spark Experience.
- Select a Spark Session date that fits your schedule. (Studio located in Braintree, MA)
- Rock the session like the bright light that you are, and create beautiful, tangible artwork to inspire you for the rest of your life.
Remember, you are powerful, courageous, and one of a kind! Show Your Spark!
