Actually, Sarriah, RandyGal's pics are still here, at
http://www.pixies-place.com/forums/...=&threadid=6586 --- and very lovely pics they are, if I may say so!
RandyGal, allow me to extend a belated welcome to the Pixies' family --- this is the most supportive and genuinely caring group of people I've met anywhere on the Internet, and from what I've seen of your posts so far you're going to fit in here wonderfully.
I totally understand the nervousness about posting --- when I first posted I was checking back every two or three minutes to see how many downloads there had been and whether anyone had commented. Now, though, there's still an adrenaline rush when I post, but it's more a thrill of anticipation and excitement knowing that the image(s) will bring pleasure to other people, rather than a nervousness about whether the pic(s) will be accepted. (When I posted my face for the first time I went through the whole anxiety thing again, as those who talked me through it here well know, but even that has subsided.)
I'm like Sarriah too in that posting here really has made a major difference in how I feel about my body. I no longer feel like it's something that ought to be camouflaged, and I find it easier to accept compliments in real life as well as on here because I've had such positive reinforcement from so many people. The feedback here has made me feel sexy in a way I never really thought I would, and that feeling spills over into everyday life, putting that much more bounce and confidence into my every step.
Ultimately, the decision about what and when to post is yours and yours alone. With the warmth and wit that your words have displayed, RandyGal, you've already won the hearts of many of us in the Pixies' family, and we would have welcomed you for who you are whether or not you had ever decided to post pics.
What I realized after posting my own pics here was that the act of sharing them changed how I felt about myself far more than it changed how anyone here felt about me. It was that realization that allowed me not only to continue posting, but to post more and more revealing pics, until finally I posted the series that left me feeling the most naked of all, the ones with my face unmasked.
I'll get off the soapbox now...
--- sweetstuff