If I had copyrighted the phrase ‘be yourself’ back in the 90s I would be making some serious coin.

How many people have you heard say they are on a journey to ‘find themselves’? But what about if you want to take a break from yourself, and be someone else for a while?

Anyone who knows me personally will know that I’ve tried over the years to blend in (as a tall girl with curly hair and glasses, that’s quite hard to do.)

BUT once I decided to stop playing small and hiding behind others, this whole confidence thing just kind of happened.

T-Shirt: Missguided. Jeans: Zara. Heels: Marks and Spencer. 

Standing on the side of a busy street in Kensington on a Saturday, having just collapsed my 6ft pop up changing room in front of a pub, posing in heels, jeans and purple lips, I took my hair out of the conservative bun I’m used to and looked at the camera.

Asia V, who I roped into helping me out behind the scenes on the day, turned around the corner and said “who is that?!” And we burst out laughing.

See, other people notice when you’re not being yourself – but is that necessarily a bad thing?

Free yourself.

Do things you didn’t think you could.

Do things that scare you and they will get less scary.

Modelling is all about being someone else; that robot from the future, the African princess, the sassy woman in red.

I want to encourage you to do things that you keep saying ‘just aren’t you.’

 

Here are some things I’ve been doing that are *so* not Phoebe:

• Periscoping (!)
• Saying no instead of constantly trying to please everyone
• Staying in instead of going out
• Trying to stand out instead of fit in
• Wearing really bold lipstick (!!)
• Saying yes to blogging events I’m invited to instead of shying away from crowds
• Going to the gym
• Waking up early (!!!)

What are some things that just ‘aren’t you?’ Let me know in the comments or tweet me @PhoebeParke.

 

See how the outfit in this post was shot below.

 

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“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” – Proverbs 31:30