Meet Kristin St Sure

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristin St Sure a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristin, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

When it comes to resilience, the word is defined as the ability to recover from difficulties quickly. As a woman often being tough in life isn’t a choice. It’s a requirement we either sink or we learn how to swim. It’s not just about being tough though, or faking it till you make it, but truly learning to overcome.
There is only one way that resilience can be acquired. Through the challenges we face, in this process we must learn to go within to find the strength we need. To face the things that damaged us. To process, to let go, to heal.
If I were to dive into the list of personal challenges the list would be a long one. What I prefer to focus on though is the commonalities that bind many of us together. Whether coming from a broken home, abuse we experience as a child or an adult.
Divorce, life changes, stresses that threaten to destroy us, crippling anxiety, chronic health conditions, taking care of children, carrying the weight of the financial burden for the family. Feeling like we have to do it all. We try to carry the world.
We give and give until we feel run down, burnt out, exhausted.
Here is where the line has to be drawn, we can not keep giving if we first do not learn to give to ourselves.
This is where the strength we need is found.
True resilience requires we rise up, we stand up for ourselves!
We must start giving ourselves the same compassion, kindness, and grace that we would give to anyone else. When we value ourselves we are healthier, happier, and stronger. Resilience is a byproduct of these things.
We learn to thrive regardless of what challenges we’re faced with.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I always used to refer to myself as a jack of all trades, afraid to be tied down to one thing, because so many different things interested me. At times others made me feel bad for this, however I’ve learned that being diversified is a good thing. I’ve also learned that even though they might not seem connected there is a commonality the weaves everything I do together.
Regardless of what I do, my motive has always been to help others, whether physically, mentally or emotionally. To see that life can be beautiful, that we can be happy, that we are enough.
Currently I do that through multiple avenues I empower ones to feel comfortable in their own skin as a photographer helping them to see themselves as I do, to know they are beautiful just as they are. Whether they are mommas, seniors, or brides. My goal is for them to enjoy the process, to relax, and to be present while creating amazing memories.

Confidence is something we all need, but I find as a young person, and often as a female it’s lacking. I know it was for me, but sometimes all it takes is one person to believe in you, that can help change your entire story.
So helping others learn the importance of valuing, and loving themselves is something I’m extremely passionate about, and love to speak about.
No matter who we are we need a purpose, to find that we must look within to become more introspective, not just what is expected of us but what do we value. We also have to learn to think outside to find the balance where these things all meet in the middle.
What are we passionate about that can also be used to help others?
I also work with a nonprofit called Be Someone as a life coach mentoring young adults in high school, and early college years.
It’s a free resource that helps students find not just what they’re good at, or what
offers a good paycheck but to think about things on a deeper level. To find something that helps them help themselves, as well as help others. Something that will continue to fill them and give back at the same time.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Learning how to identify, and break patterns. To realize we have more control than we think.
Learning how to take control of my own health, to help myself heal mentally, emotionally, and physically.
A journey that all started with learning how to value and love myself. To fight for what I believed in instead of just accepting what others said was my only option.
To understand how interconnected everything is. Doing my own research to find root causes, instead of placing a band aid on top of things.

To know and understand that you are capable of doing anything you believe you can.
Mindset changes everything!
Determination, a drive to persevere, a refusal to give up.
Resilience like anything is something that gets easier if we look at it correctly. Like a knife being sharpened with each challenge we face.
When things happen that is often an inevitable process of life acknowledge it, but don’t dwell in it.
Yes, it happened to you, but it also happened for you.
What do I mean by that? Train your mind to see the good, don’t focus on the bad.
For example, I was in a mild fender bender, I got rear ended at a red light.
I could think, “my cars ruined, my days ruined, I don’t have time for this my neck hurts.” the list goes on and on focusing only on the bad.
Instead, I choose to see the good. What good could there possibly be you might ask? I wasn’t severely injured, they had insurance, my car got fixed. I had a rental they paid for! All these are things I am grateful for. When we choose to see the good we train our brain to refocus when we do everything becomes clearer. Then we are resilient in the best possible way.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

Learning how to find myself. Improving my health mentally, emotionally and physically. Learning to turn my pain into my power.
Learning that it doesn’t define me or control me.
I’ve learned to rewrite the story, to let go of a victim mindset, to rise above the traumas the loses, to process, to release, to heal. To believe in myself.
To give myself compassion, kindness, and grace.
To give the same love to myself that I would give to anyone else. That setting boundaries is not selfish but healthy, to find my voice. To learn to love myself as I am to accept myself, while I continue to grow and use my own experience to benefit others.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

StSure Photography

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