This won’t be easy. Nothing really Good ever is. But it will be worth it.
It will be worth it to tell the next generation all the things no one ever told us. It will be worth it to tell young women what we wish we could tell ourselves at 16, 18, 23.
The hardest years of my life were from 16-23. I was still a child who thought she was grown. I was a young girl, not fully matured, with no road map to navigate through my mental health. Those 7 years almost killed me.
As I get older and my confidence matures, there have been so many things I have wanted to say to that girl. To myself at 16. Would I have listened? Maybe not. But with all of the toxicity pouring into our young women, there aren’t enough safe, real, raw spaces for young women to seek guidance, strength, inspiration, faithfulness, or hope.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but – it gets better.
The Confidence Project was started as way to tell young people all of the things I wish I could tell myself at 16. That girl hiding all her hurt. That girl self-medicating to numb it. That girl sitting in her car in the dark. That girl on the bathroom floor. That girl in the hospital. That girl so lost in her own thoughts that she can’t breathe. I want to talk to her. I want to tell her to exhale.
TCP is to tell hard stories of resilience, gratitude, pain, suffering, humility, courage, grit, and fearlessness. Combining black and white portraiture with letters to ourselves, I want to tell stories.
