Regina Felice Garcia 10/26/18 Regina Felice Garcia 10/26/18

toward or away?

You know that feeling when you plan something way in advance and then the day comes and you suddenly have a list of 70 reasons why you can’t make it? I’m a homebody, and on the days I work from home even going to a yoga class where someone might want to start conversation seems like a lot. Other days I’m out there in everyone’s face ready to be social. Last Wednesday was a quiet day, as 6pm got closer I thought of every excuse to skip the networking event I had committed to months ago.

“It’s kinda far from my house...” “I might need to get gas on my way there so that’ll make me late, I shouldn’t even try.” “I’m already in my pajamas.” “My body probably needs rest.” Now, I’m all about self care and saying no to things when I truly needs rest and nourishment, but this didn’t feel like that. I sat in silence for a bit and I tried to gain clarity on what was really going on. My gut loudly said, “go to the event!” I opened my eyes and grabbed yesterday’s sweater from the floor, threw it on, and ran out the door just in time to make it there by 6pm.

I walked into that room filled with great energy, delicious snacks, and amazing people who are all developing their businesses in a kind, conscious, compassionate way. The focus that evening was storytelling - we shared stories about courage, trust, heartbreak, and just like that, we were a bunch of lifelong friends sitting around a campfire (aka a table with fake candles). Community, warmth, connection is exactly what I’d been craving recently and there was an abundance of it in that room.

That evening I met a woman who booked a Badass Portrait Experience and we shared inspiration for our upcoming session together. We got excited about making photo art with gold body paint and wild hair/makeup out in the desert. She told me that earlier that week she had decided that she wanted to capture photos of this transformation chapter she’s experiencing - we agreed that we were both meant to be there in that room that evening.

I also saw a woman there who I had met a couple months prior, and this time she invited me to a full moon gathering which I attended this week. At that gathering I immediately felt supported and seen by the other women there - also something I’d been seeking, sisterhood. The effort to throw on a sweater and get to that event has already brought so many gifts into my life. Those brief moments that I took to sit in silence before leaving my house wondering if I should go to this thing or roll into bed early, turned out to be wildly impactful. Not only did my decision impact that specific evening, it has rippled into this week and beyond.

The very thing we desire can be so incredibly close, it’s up to us to get out the door and make the first move. A simple tool for making a decision to step out of our comfort zone, it to ask ourselves, “is this going TOWARD or AWAY from what I truly desire?” The line between toward and away can be faint or it can be a loud clench in our gut telling us to get our ass out the door and make it to that networking event. In this particular instance, it was clear to me that staying home would have been a form of staying small and in my comfort zone. Going to that event was a way to put myself out there, be seen and heard, and open a giant new door of opportunities. 100% TOWARD everything I want.

Often times my clients hesitate to book a photo session at first because they’re waiting until they’ve figured out exactly what they’ll use the photos for or when they have “something more special” going on in their lives. And often times, the photo experience itself is the very thing that sets those things into motion. A lot of times we stay home from events because of the silent hesitation of being seen out there in the world, when truly, sharing our energy and putting ourselves out there could be the ignition we’ve been waiting for. Getting out there can be the very thing that connects you to that community you’ve been craving or opens you up to that fresh new opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

A Badass Portrait Experience is like that - it’s a place where you get to SHINE, step out of your comfort zone, set into motion new creative ideas, and decide what qualities and themes you’d like to embody more. It’s also a very beautiful way to be seen, and most importantly, see yourself.

Would an expressive photo session move you TOWARD or AWAY from the mission you’re on? Would you benefit from seeing yourself in all your light?

📷💛

rfg

Photo of Katharine Chaney of Pure Joy Acupuncture

Regina Felice Garcia 12/5/17 Regina Felice Garcia 12/5/17

home is everywhere

The last time I visited Arizona before moving there again, I wrote this on the plane ride home to San Francisco: “I want to startle the mystic of the Arizona desert, and the cozy San Francisco fog.” Growing up in Arizona and Mexico, the Bay Area had been the only other place I’d lived for a long period of time. The first 2 years I lived there, I’d visit the Southwest for the holidays and I’d refer to it as “going home” for the holidays. Around year 3 in SF, I flipped the script and when I was in Arizona for the holidays, it felt like I was away from home - San Francisco was home. That feeling of landing on that runway surrounded by water and entering that magical bubble of glowing fog, that was home. Fast forward to year 6.5 having written this line on that plane ride...when I landed I didn’t feel the same. Had I left home or arrived home? There was no shift, the lines were blurred.

Home is everywhere.

There was no difference in the sense of home, aside from the fact that my apartment, my things, and most importantly, my community were in San Francisco. I spent the rest of the summer doing a deep-dive check-in with myself. What’s most important to me? Is San Francisco still the place for me right now? What’s up in my career sector? Revisit connections, time management, boundaries, behaviors, ALL OF IT. I didn’t come up with any solid answers, but something needed to change, and big transitions are not always a breeze, it’s letting go of a lot of things we love. And it’s trusting.

At the end of the summer, I took a trip to Iceland and spent a week in an Airbnb. I noticed how quickly that geometric loft turned into a home. The minute I stepped in, I scoped out the water coloring station and laid out my art supplies. I placed my clothes in my room and located the French press in the kitchen. I learned the most scenic route to downtown and found sweet parks to enjoy coffee and naps. That place was home immediately. It especially felt like home when I ran 13 miles around Reykjavik, getting intimate with its waterfronts, alleyways, and neighborhoods.

Home is everywhere.

I spent the next 4 days jamming around the island in an SUV, grabbing snacks to keep driving, and finding safe-from-the-roaring-wind spots to park the car and sleep in it. That car became home too. A slightly more compact home with sleeping bags and stinky socks, but home none the less. It even had Wifi! Iceland's got it goin' on.

I made the decision to move from San Francisco to Arizona while I was in Iceland. So when I arrived back to that 3rd floor flat in North Beach, I found myself with a long list of things to let go of. Damn, breakups are hard.

It was time to let go of the things that made my relationship with the city of San Francisco one of my most spiritually deep and heated love affairs. Our sunrise bike rides across the Golden Gate Bridge, our hours of walking together and singing into its jaw-dropping picturesque streets, our coffee dates, our random “work from park” Tuesdays when the sun was out, our jogs along the Embarcadero. It was letting go of the rainy I'm-a-local-so-I-don't-carry-an-umbrella days and of the never-a-dull-moment street vignettes. Our run-ins with friends and neighbors at least once a day. Our head-over-heels romantic solo-dates, to the beach, to hula hoop in parks, to capture sunsets on rooftops. Our heavy HEAVY dose of synchronicity. Leaving San Francisco was letting go of the way we so perfectly met one another needs.

But I was ready to step out of comfort, and into curiosity and trust. I was ready to step into more space and take up even more of it. To expand. I wasn’t, however, ready to leave my communities and my sweet Bay Area connections. I wasn’t ready to break up with walks across town to Yoga To The People on Friday evenings, followed by dinner at Beloved Cafe. I wasn’t ready to stop teaching the sunrise yoga class at the all-girls high school. I was certainly not ready to give up the cycling playground of dreams that happens to be the entirety of the city and beyond. I didn’t want to not pass by those places every day and wave to the same people who worked there - most of us never talked, but through our passer-by non-verbal interactions, we had solid friendships going.

By the time I finished packing up my UHaul, I had let go of a lot of shit. I made a few donation boxes, filed through old paperwork, and changed addresses. I was leaving with a lighter load - a car filled with plants, art supplies, bikes, and a curated version of the things in other rooms of the house. Letting go of things that didn’t matter, allowed me to see the opportunity to keep things that do.

I can’t let go of the things that matter, because things that matter stay with us, they become a part of us. I can let go of an apartment with a monumental view, I can’t however, let go of the growth, deep connection, love, romance, and the sense of “I gotcha. I always will,” that I have with San Francisco. I get to keep connections because those stay with us for as long as they need to, and Southwest Airlines flights are cheapAF.

I get to keep my fairytale walks and chats with the streets of San Francisco, we get to keep our deep and casual passionate connection when I visit. It’s certainly letting go, but it's not breaking up - San Francisco and I get to pour our hearts onto one another when we’re together. I️'m currently on a flight headed to California, and I can’t wait to kiss those streets again (extremely figuratively because germs).

“We’re always together, sometimes we meet.” - Luke Kreinberg.

As far as community and connections, there were no breakups there either. In fact, it’s wild how much the magnitude of a connection can be reassured with distance. The cool thing about connections also, is that they multiply.

I was so afraid to leave the community of Badass Women that have helped me grow my career and have referred my photo experiences to their friends and colleagues. I️ was afraid to lose everything I️ had build there. But the love and magic of the women I️ work with, and this movement to help one another level up, spans past any geographic boundaries.

When I shared my December Bay Area photography dates I felt that it might be a shot in the dark because I wasn’t physically in the Bay Area anymore - but NOPE, this community showed up more than ever and spread the word... and BOOM!

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be photographing 6 badass women (and 1 badass man 😉) in the Bay Area. 3 of these women are returning clients - you can view photos from our previous sessions below. I can't wait to capture their radiance again and again and again and again!!! I feel so incredibly grateful for this sense of location independence, strong soul tribe connection, and the opportunity to share Badass Women Photos with the original Badass Women Photos Bay Area community, and also beyond that - in Arizona, in SoCal, in Mexico, in Iceland, anywhere.

In summary:
- community and connection go beyond physical location
- when we let go of shit that doesn't matter, we can keep what does
- we can’t break up with growth, it’s part of us
- Southwest Airlines flights are cheap AF
- look out for more Badass Women photo dates and locations soon
- anddddd.....

HOME IS EVERYWHERE.

Thank you, fam. I love you.

San Francisco, see you soon, you sexy beast!

LIA PINELLI

LAUREL WILDE

JORDAN YOUNIS

Are you thinking about your own Badass Women Photos? Let's chat about it. I want to celebrate YOU.

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Regina Felice Garcia 5/16/16 Regina Felice Garcia 5/16/16

RAINY DAY VIEWS OF SF. KIND OF.

It's a real bummer that it rained on the day of my photo session with Grant Kemp because he had a super nice sweater to model. Luckily we still managed to get some good views of San Francisco.

For more views of Grant and his sweet tattoos tune into The Bachlorette - Season 12 starting at the end of May!