I'm Paula Brennan. I am a personal brand photographer & educator. I super passionate about empowering people with positive self perception & the tools so they can share their gifts with the world
December 4, 2017
These two fierce women are goddesses, warriors, beautiful souls. Their friendship inspired me to look deep into my own relationships, and none more so than the relationship I have with myself, and how that shows up in the world. I hope I have done them justice in sharing this message and images…
Donna & Wendy found each other through their shared battle with breast cancer.
They have both fought this horrible disease that has left them both with the physical and emotional scars that only those who have lived it could possibly understand.
They are both strong advocates for early detection and share this message with whoever they meet.
But the intriguing connection that I found that bound them, was not what I would have expected.
Given their circumstances you could reasonably imagine that their relationship could be burdened with “cancer” stories, passed back and forth between them.
Perhaps tinged with a sentiment of WHY ME?
But to the contrary, what had first attracted me to them (when I spotted them across the room at an expo) was this zesty energy that was god damn magnetic.
I wanted to hang out – so invited them for a shoot with me.
And within minutes of their arrival to the studio, it clicked.
Their friendship is not based on cancer, although this may have brought them into each other’s world.
Their friendship is built on an unwaivering shared lust to LIVE every day
Rather than live in the past, they celebrate and CHOOSE to live everyday its utmost fullest… to see the joy.
They did not come in apologising for themselves (something I am used to with most women).
Wendy was full of joy as she showed off all she wanted to be photographed in.
She was full of life chatting about how much fun she was going to have on her cruise to Melbourne Cup, how she swam Mooloolaba Beach at 6 every morning.
And lifted the room with her deliciously naughty energy.
And Donna who was feeling pretty ordinary after her chemo treatment only days before, made no apologies, she showed up and was ready to get her shine on
She is passionate and shared openly why she decided to create her book “Why My Mummy” to help other families in similar situations.
I could listen to both of them for days.
You see these two simply have…
Stopped giving a F#%! what any one thinks of them!
They have stopped stressing about the inconsequential little issues that regularly consume the minds of way too many healthy bodied women.
I am not trying to in any way overlook nor undermine the devastation facing breast cancer, (in all it’s horrible truths) would have on a woman, both physically and emotionally.
But it seems to me that in this loss of vitality of a once healthy body, comes a gift of clarity of everything that is of true value in your life.
And as a woman I find it hard to own that I would benefit from the negative experiences of others, but I do think that often we need to share in the challenges of peers to jolt us out of complacency… out of playing safe… or not living at all.
But in sharing their stories I know that both Donna and Wendy know the immense gift and support they give to so many women and families.
There is so much power in that.
And as the universe does, at the end of this experience, when Wendy and I hit outdoors to rock her stuff on the beach, fate stepped in.
We ran into Sue, Wendy’s friend & fellow cancer survivor who shared with me the most beautiful story that quite simply summed up what I am trying to express here.
She shared that all her married life, her husband (who loves to dance), always wanted Sue to join him on the floor.
Sadly, at every wedding, function and party Sue sat on the sidelines and watched as her friend’s got to enjoy the dance floor with her hubby, as she sat crippled with insecurities and fear of what people would think.
She was so lit up as she told me that since her cancer battle, she has finally has started thriving in her life.
She now dances at every chance she gets, and in her own words, she “lives” every day.
I don’t know many people who can say that.
Coincidentally (I like to think serendipitously), my daughter came home from dance two days later, and told me she has stopped playing safe, worrying what her peers may think of her, and started giving it her all in her classes.
As she put it she had mad the choice to go “All out”.
I really don’t think that 15 years ago, when all of their body parts were healthy, that Donna or Wendy would have considered taking their tops off in a photoshoot to celebrate their bodies (actually on knowing Wendy maybe she would have!!).
But I don’t think they would have imagined that Breast Cancer was in their path either.
At their photoshoot, these two friends went “All out” with heart.
And you know what? I know they do this daily.
This photoshoot, for me was meant as a celebration of this wonderful friendship that I spotted from afar at an Expo Stand.
In the end for me it was more like a LIBERATING reminder to get off the insecurity sideline of life.
I know I have SO much on my to-do list that I would LOVE to be able to say I gave that a go. Ambitions that I have been putting off for fear of … (insert fear based beliefs)
How about you?
All too often we dream big, then live small.
So, I ask YOU… what are you waiting for?
Is it time for you to go “All out”?
Donna has also written a beautiful book “Why My Mummy” from her 9 year old son Kai’s perspective, to assist parents talking to children about terminal illness. To get a copy or read more CLICK THIS LINK
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