Summer of Selfies Challenge

There’s much being said about selfies lately.  I’ve put in my two cents about them (Me, Myselfies, and I).  Yes, sometimes they can be a bit over the top or even annoying, but are they really hurting anyone?  For me, selfies aren’t a “rub it in your face” or “look at me, look at me” kind of thing, they’re more of a “wish you were here to share this moment” kind of thing.

Selfies have also been a learning experience for me. When I started posting my “Faces of Chemo” selfies, I had no idea the world it would open up for me. I posted my daily pics as a way to chronicle my breast cancer journey. That turned into 154 consecutive selfies posted (plus other “unofficial” posts). They weren’t meant to be pretty. It was just me, how I was feeling on that particular day.  Don’t get me wrong, there were rarely one-click-and-post shots and many re-shoots (I always go with the “law of three”, take at least three shots and pick the best one… take three more if needed), but something got posted every day.  And they weren’t all selfies in the traditional sense, I would from time to time enlist someone to snap the shot for me… sometimes my arms just aren’t long enough… still pictures of my “self”.  Anyway, back to the “learning” part.  As time went on, I started to become comfortable, comfortable with me.  I began to accept myself and how I looked (although the chemo clean slate of no hair, eyebrows, or eyelashes wasn’t ideal).  This is me, today. I’m ok with that.

You don’t need to go through something like cancer to have that kind of self-discovery. It just takes giving yourself a little bit of grace every day.  Embrace your flaws, they’re what make you YOU.  Don’t hide who you are.  Don’t be so hard on yourself.  And the people who know you, they see you anyway (in real life). They love you and a less than perfect picture isn’t going to change that. If anything, it will help them share in your day, your up’s and down’s, your fun, your frustration, your adventures, your success and your losses, life.  That’s not a bad thing.

Still not convinced?  Well, my friend Christine (my partner in selfie-crime) and I would like to invite you to join us in a “Summer of Selfies” Challenge. A selfie experiment, if you will.  Beginning on June 21^st (the first official day of Summer) and running for 6-weeks, we will post prompts each week for daily selfies (like “sleepy selfie” or “at work selfie”). You would then post your selfies to Instagram and/or Facebook with the hashtag #SummerOfSelfies.  No worries if you miss a day or two (or three…), just pick right back up when you can.  It’s not a big deal that will require hours of pre and post production. Just do it and just be you.  Why should I, you ask?  Why not?!  It’ll be fun!! And let’s just see if you start to look at yourself a little differently when it’s all done.  Maybe you’ll decide you’re not so bad.  Maybe you’ll kind of start to like what you see.  You’ll never know unless you give it a try!

Here are the prompts for the first week... start posting June 21st!