Bad Picture Monday

I was having one of those days today. And then I looked on Facebook and continued to have one of those days. Somehow seeing all the beautiful profile pictures, adorable children, and good news updates didn’t help me feel much better. It reminded me of a previous post I wrote about always posting adorable pictures of ourselves to create a more personally acceptable alter ego of ourselves. One where we always look beautiful and have amazing lives full of crafts, homemade meals, and perfectly behaved children, all while we clean house in evening gowns.

I brushed off this topic as a potential blog post idea (too repetitive) until I saw this article today, Bad Picture Monday. This seemed like the perfect day to join in.

At first, I looked and looked. After realizing I didn’t have any bad pictures of myself, I decided to post one of some other people instead.

Okay, just kidding. Can you imagine how that would go over? “Here’s a horrible picture of my sister for Bad Picture Monday. Oh, and one of my friend, too. This is so easy!”

I think everyone looks great in this picture but me. Normally I wouldn’t post a picture of me for all the world to see looking so tired. But in the spirit of the “Bad Picture Monday" it was the first “bad” one I found.

But I realize in thinking about it, it’s a great picture of Abe’s family -- and it’s a great picture of me. This is me in my normal every day life at work (except the fact I am visiting a family member in the hospital). It shows me in my typical residency attire. It reminds me of the hard work I have put in to get where I am and that I give to my patients every day. I may look tired (because I am) but I am certainly working toward something important and I will probably want to remember this time, even with pictures of me looking dog tired and without make-up. And lucky for me, I am surrounded by family, all of whom are supportive and caring. I am lucky to have such a good support system during the struggles of residency.

This may not be the “baddest” picture I could find. It is certainly diluted by beautiful Sheffields (I often feel like the non-photogenic one in this crowd), but it’s a good reminder that there are more important things in life than keeping up a perfect social media profile.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we all posted a few of these every once and awhile? Wouldn’t it be liberating to see your friends and neighbors looking like human beings with bad hair days just like you? I am going to try to post these when I can. I think I could use a dose of reality and humility in my life. I hope you are brave enough to give it a try, too. And a real try, not one of those ones where ‘I look “terrible”’ because you forgot to paint your nails.