‘Smile!’ Says Sonya, as I proceed to awkwardly smile.
I’ve never been big on smiling in pictures and that was because I wore braces for about five years when I was younger. I preferred to smize (smile with your mouth closed and eyes. FYI, Tyra Banks coined that term.) and I did it pretty well if I say so myself. I got so used to smizing that it was my ‘go to’ look when photographs were being taken.
I wish I could share my GCSE school photo with you all, you’d see what I mean. I also used to turn my head slightly to the right. Anyone who knew me then can vouch for this pose. It was ‘The Nengi’ pose.

I suppose as young children we always wanted to look our best and we were either comparing ourselves to others or being compared to others by someone else. The pressures for youngsters are quite a lot I must say. Hang in there kiddos, there’s much more to life and you will honestly all be fine. As a young adult I am more carefree with myself and I don’t have just ‘The Nengi’ pose, I have multiple poses. I genuinely feel as though I can pull off a ‘smize’, a laugh, a grin, a chuckle etc. Just be happy with all that you are and work with your natural beauty and smile more. (Like Sonya always tells me) I honestly believe we are as beautiful as we believe ourselves to be.

Anyway, I hope you can all feel comfortable enough within yourselves to be free. Don’t take everything too seriously, always be kind to people, (even those who may be unkind to you) smile often, laugh often, don’t compare yourselves to others, and ultimately, live your life like it’s golden. (One of my personal mantra’s)