RACHEL'S STORY
Rachel Woodlock exudes confidence. Whether it be her iconic winks (as seen on the left), or her pride for her weird tan lines, Woodlock doesn't shy away from embracing her uniqueness, and she never has in the past..
After what seemed like hours of laughing in the notorious Chicago heat, Rachel and I decided to cool down and eat some Rocky Road ice cream. Here she began to open up to me about her own journey towards becoming a confident young woman. "I was used to being the best." Woodlock starts. "As a kid, that was always my number one priority. That what ever I do, I be the best at it. It was my way of staying happy with who I was. How I actually felt about myself didn't quite matter because winning meant I was doing something right." But as many of you know, being the best at everything, frankly, just is not possible, regardless of how hard you try. And this truth began to hit Rachel as she grew older. "It was very painful. Even getting second place, I would kill myself over it because it didn't make me feel good enough. I felt like the one thing keeping me standing confidently was being pulled away from my feet." |
But however painful it might have been, it made Rachel realize that her idea of self love was skewed. To her, how much she loved herself was based of how she performed or acted in comparison to other people. When in reality, it should have been her loving herself regardless of how others treated her.
"At that point, as corny as it may seem, I told my self regardless of being the best or not, I would love myself ,"
Woodlock definitely had her ups and downs when she started focusing on looking at confidence in a new way. But to keep her morale up, she began appreciating the little things about herself, whether it would be dressing up to feel put together or studying really hard just for the sake of learning. And slowly but surely, she became that-- if not more -- confident person that she use to be when she was younger.
"I have this motto that if you act like a self absorbed piece of shit bitch, your life will be 300% better. I don't mean become mean or narcissistic, but be a boss and proud of yourself even if you are the last person in everything or the worst player on a team. Appreciate the little things about yourself that you are proud of. It'll make you feel incredible and at the same time make people believe that you have your shit together."
"At that point, as corny as it may seem, I told my self regardless of being the best or not, I would love myself ,"
Woodlock definitely had her ups and downs when she started focusing on looking at confidence in a new way. But to keep her morale up, she began appreciating the little things about herself, whether it would be dressing up to feel put together or studying really hard just for the sake of learning. And slowly but surely, she became that-- if not more -- confident person that she use to be when she was younger.
"I have this motto that if you act like a self absorbed piece of shit bitch, your life will be 300% better. I don't mean become mean or narcissistic, but be a boss and proud of yourself even if you are the last person in everything or the worst player on a team. Appreciate the little things about yourself that you are proud of. It'll make you feel incredible and at the same time make people believe that you have your shit together."