Do You Hate Seeing Photos of Yourself?

We recently got a Google Nest Hub for our home. It sits in my kitchen, and my husband set it up so that when it’s not in use pictures from over the years scroll across the screen. It’s like a technically advanced digital picture frame. 😊

The pictures that come up on it span the past decade or more. To tell you the truth, I look at some of these pictures and I can’t believe how young, beautiful, and healthy I look. The funny thing is, I remember taking many of these pictures and at the time I felt anything but. I remember looking at the photos after they’d been taken in disgust, rolling my eyes, thinking I looked fat, tired, or frumpy. Ha! I think most of us struggle with loving ourselves and being kind to ourselves – especially when it comes to photographs. In recently years I’ve devoted myself to the journey of self-love, both personally and professionally; like many of you, it’s the thing I struggle with the most. The truth is, everything as we know it is going to change. We are going to continue evolving in every aspect of our lives. What if we didn’t wait until everything changes to love what we have right now? The point is, do your future-self a favor and love yourself right now – exactly where you’re at. One day you’ll look back on yourself in this moment with kinder eyes and a heart full of nostalgia, and you’ll wish you had seen yourself then as you do now. I just had my third baby – trust me, this is no easy task for me either. But when a camera comes up I am trying to remind myself that it’s capturing me exactly where I am at in this moment. And one day in the future, perhaps while standing in my kitchen watching photos scroll by, I’ll see this photo and love it. I’ll reminisce about where I was in my life when the photo was taken and be grateful for it. Perfection is bullshit. Chasing it will only make you miss out on what you have right now. You do not need to be a certain age, size, or physical condition for you to appreciate your beauty, your healthy, and your journey. Try to catch yourself in those moments of self-deprecation and see them as an opportunity to change the script. Try to see yourself through your eyes ten years from now. Our future-self offers us so much love, compassion, and kindness. Practice offering that to yourself in the present moment as well. Your journey has been unique and powerful, and you deserve to love and honor yourself where you are, as you are. If there was ever a practice worthy of your energy, I believe this is it.

Have a wonderful week.

With love and gratitude, Robin