
This week’s Photo A Week Challenge is ‘Selfie’ and today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt is ‘a picture from wherever’ so here I am with a kind of amalgamation of both… It’s a selfie of me taken last Saturday, sitting in my back garden.
I used to be far too self-conscious about seeing photographs of me, but as I’ve got older it doesn’t bother me nearly so much. I’m 58 years old, turning 59 towards the end of the year, and I am what I am. I used to worry about my hair and my skin and my weight and my clothes, about looking acceptable to the world by what I perceived to be the world’s expected standards of appearance.
And now? Now I see how image obsessed social media has made us all with its fancy portrait filters rubbing out every potential skin blemish, and I worry about my three lovely young granddaughters growing up in such a surface-judgemental environment. So here I am trying to live up to what I tell them about life – always be yourself, you’re beautiful just as you are, and don’t ever let the world tell you otherwise…
And in my selfie I’m sitting in my back garden, in my own little oasis of nature, wearing a flowery dress while relaxing on a traditional-style wooden steamer chair and enjoying the sunshine while it lasted… Oh, for me it’s definitely the simple things in life that make all the difference π
You are lovely β¨
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That’s a great photo, Ruth. You are a very pretty woman, and I am uplifted by your expression.
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That’s a great photo Ruth and I agree wholeheartedly with you thoughts on this post π
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I love it. I feel the same way, on both counts you’ve raised about being self-conscious but seeing how destructive filters are.
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You’re about my age (or I’m about yours…) – I’ll turn 59 on Halloween. I have read that social media is hurting people’s self-image, so good for you for being an example to your grand daughters. I do like the photo with that great smile π
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You have a sweet, genuine smile. The face of a happy person.
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Nice picture, and it looks you had a great day to take it!
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I love the picture Ruth. you have glowing skin, a lovely smile, great natural wavy hair (please don’t disillusion me), and a lovely colourful dress to match your spirit. Plus a sunny day – what more could you wish for!
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My mum has really curly hair, my dad’s is straight and fine… mine is a weird blend that’s neither one nor the other and just does its own thing – I stopped fighting with it long ago, and just let it be π
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You can’t fight nature and, if you try, you will lose!
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Just beautiful, inside and out! You’re glowing π
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Aw thanks Jilly π
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