One Burger At A Time.
“I’m too fat (must have eaten to many burgers), I’m so stupid, I suck at my job, I’m a disappointment to my family and children, I hate my round face, I don’t have any real friends, my relationships never work out, I wish I could grow a beard like that guy, I wish I had that girls hair, I am not good enough to accomplish anything.” If you have not had similar thoughts, can you please call me and tell me your secret because 36% of Americans say they “always like themselves.” Who are you people! Where have ya’ll been? I have not met you yet. Probably because:
64% I REPEAT 64% of us are down, depressed and hopeless. 64% of Americans have these thoughts and we continuously bring ourselves down.
When is this negative self-talk going to be put to rest? When are we going to start loving ourselves enough to reframe these negative thoughts?
My answer: When we make the conscious effort to practice loving exactly who we are for what we are. And the actions you do are who you are.
Loving yourself for who you are does not mean become obese and say “this is fine, I am beautiful just the way I am.” Working on yourself shows love for yourself. Letting yourself go completely unhealthy and justifying that is another excuse in your bucket that will lead to an early grave. There has to be a balance. A balance between working on ourselves and the things we want to get better at without beating ourselves up along the way.
Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks and Joaquin Phoenix are just a few famous people who have never watched their own movies. Why? Because a lot of actors are famously self-critical. Even celebrities who have a lot of money and “success” are still apart of the 64%. I can tell you as a creative where my work is seen by thousands on huge screens (no pressure or anything), I can very much relate. And this my fellow reader is where the Burger experience comes in.
Project #1 at my brand new job: Take a photo of Chickie’s and Petes Feature Burger for the month of January.
Motivated, ambitious me was like hell yes man! Let’s get this Burger. Little did I know this project would be the most embarrassing photo releases of my career.
Let’s just say the comments I received sounded like this:
“Well, it looks edible.”
“It looks a little plastic.”
“It’s almost cartoon like.”
“It’s not your fault it looks like that.”
“The sauce looks interesting.”
“It looks like someone jizzed on the burger.”
This is when I broke down because of a photo of a Burger. lol
I was so distraught over this burger. I had to look at it on big screens for an entire month. Thousands of people saw this disgusting photo of a burger I took. It was my first food shoot for the entire property. In January, I beat myself up everyday. And at the end of the month it was time…
Time for the February Burger shoot.
Now, I could have given up, cried (which I did in private), told my boss another photographer should do it. But instead, I gathered emotions together and watched more photography food videos than ever, practiced before the shoot on a package of macadamia nuts and went to the February Burger shoot.
I actively made the conscious effort to do better this time. Not for anyone else, just for me. The next burger was not at all perfect. And perfection is not what I strived to do. I was looking for the satisfaction that I did everything in my power to take photos that someone would actually want to eat this burger. I wanted to show a burger that I personally would want to eat.
No one else built my confidence. No matter how many people told me “it’s okay, it’s just one shoot. You’re a very talented photographer.” Nothing helped me feel better.
Except… for when I choose to not give up.
For the entire month of February, I am confident to say my Burger photo is as good as I could make it. And next months Burger will look better, and the month after that will continue to look tastier. And that is what confidence and love for yourself can look like. I worked on me to get here, that is what I have done with all my small to large accomplishments.
Just one burger at a time.