I am 50 and loving life! Let me say this again, I am 50 and loving life and that is something truly special I want to celebrate.
I turned 50 back in June and have been waiting for the right moment to do some self portraits with no makeup again to celebrate all the beautiful things about me and where I am at in life. Let’s just say the lead up to turning 50 didn’t start like this, I was struggling with being able to receive love and my self worth. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to celebrate it, but the work I have been doing for my mental wellbeing with Rebecca Thompson has helped me significantly.
This photograph is my absolute favourite self portrait (I programmed my camera to take 10 photographs 5 seconds apart) and yes I captured this, I had the vision, I set it up with a tripod and I pushed the button. I love it so much because this is me and who I am right now. It shows my love for me, joy, inner child and power, all in one frame.
Would you believe the sun came out from behind the clouds right at this moment at the health retreat at Sunshine Coast?!
Self Portrait created at Health Retreat Sunshine Coast with Rebecca Thompson
This photograph didn’t happen on its own… I had a yearning to capture it on my second last day at Rebecca Thompson’s ‘Goddess Embodiment Retreat’ I recently attended in September in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland at the beautiful Sweetwater Cottage. I think the retreat needs the word transformation added to its beautiful name because this is exactly what it was for me. A complete internal transformation.
Rebecca’s health retreat at Sunshine Coast was not about massages and day spas (which of course is wonderful if that is what your heart’s desire is, who says no to a massage right?!), it was a full immersion into my awakening and reclaiming all of who I am away from societal norms and other people’s judgement. Rebecca uses mediation, yoga and multiple other techniques to help guide you to connect within. During my spare time, I painted my internal desires, walked to the waterfall and journaled from within.
Why are these photographs so beautiful?
Self Love
At the health retreat on Sunshine Coast, I discovered love inside me in such a deep profound way that my body is about to burst. Learning how to receive my love has been a game changer because everything in life starts with me loving me first. For quite some time I have struggled to receive love from others and now I honour this gift and receive it willingly with an open heart. I have a deeper connection with myself, more self compassion, internal peace and a desire to connect with others in a more powerful way with presence.
Courage & Power
Courage and power has risen up inside me with a sword to slash through my negative thoughts, that dreaded imposter syndrome and my ego. People will now find it hard to push me over as I am grounded to mother earth and have awakened my feminine energy.
Inner Child
My inner child is alive and free and I am dancing my way through life in awe and wonder of the world remembering to laugh and have fun along the way. Rebecca helped me to show my true self and express myself freely, no longer holding myself back.
I feel taller
My voice is bursting to share my wisdom with you and I want to be heard. The fear to use my voice was a real struggle that has been with me all my life, I would compare myself to others and not feel good enough. Now I feel safe to be heard and have the urge to shout out loud my purpose to the world. I feel taller in the world (even though I am 152 cm tall) and my head is held high.
I no longer feel shame
I no longer feel shame around my previous depression. The worry I had about making people feel uncomfortable with the story behind it has disappeared. I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders. I share the story willingly (but no longer attracted to it) now as it has set me on my journey of personal development and I am loving it. I am now honouring my path and purpose and able to move forward in my life. My work photographing women to show them how beautiful and strong they are was created after coming out of depression.
Released creative blocks
Rebecca helped me release some blocks I had around starting my new photography project. She helped me see that my block was about fear of not seeing my beauty in my own photograph, a self portrait that I wanted to create to kick off the project. I now will focus on doing the photography (my self portrait, different to these ones) for me first, not the project and nobody else, just for me to see my own inner beauty. I can’t tell you how liberating, free and ready I am to let my creative juices flow. Afterwards, I can then invite other willing participants to be a part of this new project. Fascinated? Yes? I would love it if you would book a call with me here.
My leadership gems at Rebecca Thompson’s Goddess Embodiment Retreat
I love the techniques Rebecca has taught me through embodiment, mediation, accessing my energy centres and the earth’s energy.
Here are some of my gems from the retreat.
1. As a leader I now have a desire to be seen and not shy away from showing up to share my truth, photography and purpose.
2. I now surrender to new experiences and opportunities, not letting fear overtake me and miss out as previously done.
3. I can burn up negative thoughts inside me and release them. These have only created internal suffering and held me back.
4. I found my power within and can turn on and access anytime.
5. I have awakened my feminine energy so I can live an abundant life without apology and be fully expressed. Infinite beautiful energy and light is flowing through me and around me and I am fully present and grounded to the earth.
6. Decisions are made from dropping in to my body (embodiment) and feeling what is within and not made with my mind that will tell me to do something else.
7. I am more magnetic, radiating beautiful energy attracting what I want in life.
I could scream out loud that I feel so abundant! It has nothing to do with the material things in my life, abundance is all inside me and I can now fully express who I am and not hide.
I am love. I am mighty. I am magnetic. I am radiant. I am peace. I am passion. I am a creator. I am joy. I am an explorer. I am presence. I am one with the earth.
I now know how to surrender and embody all this. I walk with my inner child inside me who was once shut down. This may sound weird, but I can feel and access this abundance at any time now, day or night.
Where to now after health retreat at Sunshine coast?
There is no magic wand for mental health, it is hard work, harder than physical health, and I’ve been on this journey for 7 months now with Rebecca after a horrific month of insomnia in January from perimenopause along with anxiety. I felt so fragile and nearly at breaking point, I knew I had to do something about these horrible symptoms. My connection with Rebecca happened organically and just at the right time… you know when things are meant to be.
I still have 5 months left with Rebecca Thompson: Be a Beacon program and I’m excited to see how far I will progress and where this will take me.
Her program is way beyond mindset, it is embodying your true self and power, you actually feel it inside you. You are guided by your internal feminine energy not by your mind. I have the option to continue on afterwards and I can see already that I will continue on this journey with her. For now, I feel like I am flying high.
Mel x
P.S. This is not chat GPT talking, this is straight from my heart.
Rebecca Thompson’s Next Embodied Foundations 3 day Workshop, 2nd – 4th November 2023
If something here has caught your heart’s desire, I urge you to check out Rebecca Thompson’s next Embodied Foundations 3 day workshop here. She is one of the most powerful women I know and her intuition in knowing how to help you is phenomenal. I have so much love and gratitude for her wisdom and passion to help women.
Celebrate Unapologetically With a Portrait Experience
If you are intrigued about my new project and want to hear more about it, I invite you to book a call with me here.
The Empowering Portrait Experience is about celebrating your authentic self and acknowledging that YOU are enough, just as you are RIGHT now.
It’s about embracing who you are, celebrating your inner beauty and building your self- confidence.
About the author – Mel Watt
Mel Watt is a Brisbane Women’s Photographer who specialises in using her skills as a photographer to help women embrace and celebrate their true and authentic selves. Mel is an advocate of helping women of all shapes and sizes feel confident and celebrate their own unique selves.
You can view Mel’s work on the website here.
