#LoveMe Challenge – photos and my loathing of selfies

In case you missed yesterday’s post, I decided to try the #LoveMe Challenge. Today’s challenge is to post of photo of yourself. This one is really hard for me because I really dislike having my photo taken. On PepperScrap’s site, the home of the challenge, she even addresses that people shouldn’t shy away from the camera. Hmm, guess I’m not the only one who runs when they see a camera.

It’s not that I don’t like commemorating events and people, I do. I just never liked being in photos. I like taking photos to remind myself of travels, events, people, and things. But I didn’t think I needed to be reminded of myself. Until I lost myself…

But I think some people take that whole selfie thing way too far. I know you know of someone on your social media feeds who feels the need to continually post selfies, looking for those compliments or to try to show the world all the stuff they’ve managed to acquire. I’m just not wired that way so I don’t get the narcissism or the need for approval from everyone I know.

I often get teased because most of my profile images are either from my high school days (so people on Facebook know who the heck I used to be) or cartoon characters. But I just never really see the point of providing a photo of me so you can know what I look like if you see me often. And if you don’t see me often, do you really need to know what I look like over what I’m like as a person? You can’t see the sarcasm, the nerdiness, the silliness, my love of reading, the joy I experience when traveling, my overt fondness for my cat…

But in the spirit of the challenge, I decided to find an image that I could at least build a story around.

Me in front of the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua

One of the few selfies I’ve ever taken, this photo is me in front of an active volcano vent in Nicaragua. I like this picture because my hair’s a wreck, I’m grubby from hiking all day, and I have the cheesiest sunglasses on. (It’s definitely not an endlessly posed selfie…) I also love this photo because I have such joy on my face. I’m traveling in a really amazing country, I’ve got a whole lot of adventure ahead of me, and I got to combine my interest in volcanism with my travels. I went to Nicaragua on a solo trip – just me and a small backpack for a week. This picture was taken on my first day there. It brings back some very fond memories. But it also represents my independent, curious, adventurous side – solo trekking through Nicaragua with only a rudimentary grasp of Spanish in a nation that not too many Americans aside from surfers have discovered… I like that side of me. I wish I let her out to play more often – just, you know, with way more sunscreen on…