The Selfie Me Vs The Real Me

I don't know if this is an issue with anyone else but who doesn't love a good selfie? I'll tell you I've come to loathe the selfie.

Why? Because I am not a fan of photos of myself in general but a selfie? Is a chore. It also isn't really me. Taking a good selfie to me is like pulling teeth. I have to make sure the angle is right, the light is a specific way, the filter has to be perfect. It's a pain.

However I have made a point of being in more photos, especially with the kids. I was told about a year ago there isn't enough photos of me so now I try, but are the photos really who I am? Not really. 

Last week I wanted to take a photo for my blog that I could use on all social media to help people know who I was, and be able to associate my photo with blog. I went through all my selfies and none of them were a true representation of me. If you were to bump into me outside on the street you most definitely wouldn't see me as my "selfie-self".

When taking photos I think about my kids. My girls mostly, and how they must feel when they see me setting myself up for a selfie, or deleting them because I just don't like them. After writing this post I've gotten a lot better about myself, but I know there's still a lot to work on. Making sure the kids see me happy with myself, and not always deleting or altering photos of myself is a huge deal to me so I have been working on this for sometime. Now it was time for me to post photos that weren't the perfect photo - not the ultimate selfie.

I asked Jordan who is so talented when it comes to photos if he would snap a few shots for me. Of course he did, and I LOVED the results. However, I was still a little nervous about posting them.

I wanted a true representation of me, who I am on a daily basis. The mom you'd see on the sidewalk, bump into and know exactly who I am... Have no idea what I'm talking about? Here's an example of my "Selfie-self" hair just right, little bit of make up and perfect lighting and angle.

Here's a photo Jordan took of me last week, no make up, no perfect hair, no perfect side angle, Just ME. Goes with the one to the right on the side bar....

I look like two different people. I'm sure this happens with a lot of people, but why? I have no answer. Except for myself which is I just generally have never liked photos of myself. My hair always looks fluffy and out of this world - it's super thick and long, I can't wear it up due to headaches and migraines so it's always the same. I rarely put make up on unless it's to go out to a fancy dinner or event.

Then it dawned on me when I was asking my husband and sister in law for advice on what photo I should use - I've spent way too much time worrying about what my photos look like, and instead I should just embrace them because I love who I am as a person, and I'm quite okay with how I look as a mom of 6 littles - I am who I am. Which, is easier said than done believe me but it's true. Why online do we feel the NEED to only post those perfect photos? I don't know but I am going to take one photo and one photo only from now on and post it. Not 40 photos of the same thing, and choose which is best! This doesn't teach our kids anything or set a good example and I don't even think we realize this. Our kids watch everything we do. My girls, always try to do things I do. 

So I took the plunge -- I posted my photo, I used it with pride and am very happy I did. No misleading, no perfect seflie, just pure honest me. I'll admit I did throw on that "Mayfair" filter from Instagram because I LOVE the deep colours and how bright photos come out, but the rest? Is what it is!

Do you like taking selfies? Do you often find photos are a true representation of you?