Helen  Martine

And I am here to say that it is ok to struggle with being yourself sometimes. Or maybe even always.

It's when we are all alone with ourselves that we feel safest to be just who we are meant to be.

It's funny how once we need to show ourselves, we tend to clam up, and serve what we feel the other person needs. It's taken me a long time to start breathing into my own being, acknowledging that being myself is more than ok, and I will be accepted, always, and forever, period, end of story.

That the acceptance starts with me.

And once I understood that, I realized that rejection hurts the most when it's from yourself, because it's the only one you can control it from. Because everyone has the same entitlement to be who they are, and ask for their needs.

With my desire to spend more time alone, I had a tendency to go into my little dream world and spend time in my fantasies. So for as long as I can remember, I have had a love of 'pretty things'. I love to beautify things. Whether it is a boring corporate looking hotel room or a the way you might serve a  With of course a heavy-duty side of skepticism. To me, seeing the messiness for what it is, the way life itself usually unfolds, is the key to always seeing beauty. 

I love telling stories. I have always loved playing house, or dolls or later in life grabbing cameras and creating movies. I liked to play, tap into my imagination, altering reality. It is a gift we can give each other. We give the gift of being transported into a different world, even if it is only for moment. An infectious emotion, beautiful imagination and a new reality.