G’day friends, and welcome to another week and perhaps one of the most exciting posts yet!
If you follow me on social media, you will know I did my first photoshoot two weeks ago!
The reason being? Well, you may or may not know that Living Abled is becoming a business! Yup! Ya girl is strapping on her boss woman pants and taking the massive leap of faith into entrepreneurship and the Life Coaching world!
So naturally, one of the first steps, of many, is to get some branding photography done!
Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good photo, but I am also bad at putting things off that makes me nervous! It’s probably one of my toxic traits.. I would put it down to social anxiety.
So it took me weeks of asking for recommendations, looking through portfolios and sleeping on it before I decided!
I decided to go with Amy Philip Photography! I fell in love with Amy’s work; her golden hour shoots are mesmerising, and I knew I wanted her to be my photographer.
That day I worked with some incredible powerhouse women all day. From my makeup artist Claire, to my hair stylist Carole, my photographer Amy and my amazing and generous Equine Therapy Coach Hayley who allowed us to shoot on her beautiful property. It was girl power vibes all day!
This shoot day was so much more than just a branding shoot. For me, it was also a day that I stepped into the next phase of my life.
When you are disabled, you are pretty often infantilised and undermined. Your authority as an adult is something you constantly have to fight for. The saying is true, the longer you are treated like something, you become that something. So, the longer you are treated like a child, the more you often feel like you stay that way.
It’s like a significant identity crisis; knowing you are a grown adult, and yet still feeling like you are a child because a lot of people still treat you like one because they don’t realise that it is okay to talk to a disabled person like a human being, or an adult!
So, for years I have been in a strange loop inside my head. Knowing I am an adult, but constantly second-guessing whether or not I should be doing what I am doing in my life, almost like imposter syndrome. It’s an internal battle, that no qualifications, conversations, accolades or even a business will actually help. It’s about believing in myself and doing everything I am doing for no one but myself, and genuinely thinking that I am a strong and capable WOMAN, worthy of everything I have achieved and am doing in my life! A severe case of baby face also definitely doesn’t help matters either that is for sure!
So on the day of the photoshoot, when I looked in the mirror after getting my hair and makeup done, my first thought was, ‘Wow, I actually look incredible, and I look 24!’.
On the drive out to the location, I made a promise to myself ‘Today will be the day that I farewell little inner child Rhi, and welcome the adult Rhi’.
Little inner child Rhi has served me well across my 24 years. She has taught me my lessons, tried her best to protect me and kept me company. But lately, I have felt a major internal shift—a desire to finally say goodbye to that little girl. I was finally starting to feel like a woman. But I couldn’t fully step into it yet.
When I got to the location, my nerves and imposter syndrome went away. I listened to the birds chirp, the faint breeze, the horses grazing in the distance. I was at complete peace and felt ready to step into womanhood without fear.
My incredible photographer made the process completely stress-free. We spoke about the kind of shots we wanted to get and explored around finding the best spots.
Amy my amazing photographer never once made me feel insecure or small; she ultimately empowered me and gave me the freedom to be myself!
We laughed at how often I would accidentally get my scooter stuck on rocks and long grass, we laughed at how often my trusty sidekick mum had to drag my scooter out from bushes and up hills.
I was never made to feel that my disability was a pain, or that my mother shouldn’t be still assisting me at my age. It was what we were genuinely celebrating in a way, after all—acceptance of life, of disability, and expressing freedom and just living without judgment. Everything I want Living Abled to embody.
However, the most heartwarming and emotional moment for me out of the whole day came right at the end as we were leaving.
Amy hugged me and said, ‘you are an incredible woman’.
As I said at the beginning of this blog, I have struggled to be acknowledged and treated like an Adult, a Woman, since I turned 18.
Amy and I had only known each other for a couple of hours, and yet she acknowledged me as a Woman. The entire time, she never treated me as anything less.
I got in the car and shed a tear of happiness, relief, and contentment.
All the incredible women who helped me that day, all lifted me up, inspired me, and filled me with so much confidence and excitement for a life full of helping so many people who are going through their own life roller coaster.
Most importantly, a woman was finally born. And it felt amazing!
To Amy, Claire, Carole, Hayley, Mum. You are all powerhouse women who are all fantastic and deserve the world! Thank you all for helping me start to put the final pieces of my puzzle together.
My life has been a crazy journey. This shoot gave me time to reflect and make peace with much of it. I couldn’t have done that without the support and encouragement from Amy and everyone else involved that day.
Like everyone, I am still a work in progress, but this shoot was the day it all slowly came together.
I cannot wait to kick Living Abled up a notch thanks to this experience and the most incredible photos I have ever seen! They truly capture contentment, peace, acceptance, happiness and life!
I can’t wait to show you all the incredible photos on social and on the website soon!
Thank you, Amy. You are incredible at what you do.
Till next week,
Rhi.