4 Out of 32: Selfie Challenge

I ended January by completing my fourth out of 32 things to do before 32.  It was a project I actually started on the 1st day of January, which was to do a 30 day selfie challenge.  This plays into my whole body image insecurities that I spoke about in an earlier post.

I really don't love having my picture taken.  I'm not photogenic and only have a few pictures of myself that I actually like.  I'll pose for pictures with friends because I like having those memories, but I know that I'm always going to think everyone else looks perfect and I don't.  So this was a challenge to take 30 pictures of myself and post them on Instagram.  There are a number of Instragram projects like this floating around with different hashtags.  I chose to use #abeautifulmess because of all the ones that seemed the most appropriate.

I took pictures from all different angles and some are more flattering than others.  This was deliberate.  I have this perception that everyone else always looks great and I always look terrible.  I have come to realize that most people feel this way about themselves.  I want to stop the cycle of always feeling inferior when it comes to my body and face.

Does that mean that after 30 days of self photos I have no body images issues and think I'm incredible looking?  Of course not.  But this is my attempt to say to myself that even though I'm not "perfect" (whatever that may be) I'm a beautiful person, even with what I consider to be flaws.

By no means am I radiating with self confidence at this point, but it is a small step towards that.  You can view my photos at my Instagram profile.  It was a 30 day challenge, but I finished today because I skipped a day by accident.  That's okay...this isn't the year about being perfect.  This is the year about being imperfect and accepting that.