Selfies anyone?

Selfies…anyone else sick of this phenomenon yet? Between instagram, pinterest, twitter, snapchat, and a thousand other social media outlets, kids…and adults, have become obsessed with taking pictures of themselves and posting them for the world to see. Not just any pictures though, the perfect pictures. People will hold their phone up, snap a picture, look at the picture’s quality and then determine whether it was worthy of being shared or whether another, or another ten, are needed to get it “just right”. How amazing would it be if the world actually worked that way? Wouldn’t it be amazing if in the real world we could actually have countless retakes, could edit our reality to our heart’s content, could add our own filters, and crop out everything we didn’t like.

In the real world, though, we do not have the option of changing our background. We do not have the option of turning the flash on or off. We cannot choose between “lo fi” or “Valencia” (my own personal favorite filter is Juno) ..yet so often in our lives we wish we could. Often, because of our new obsession with crafting a false image of reality, a fantasy image, a facade for the world to see, that when we face real obstacles, real hurdles and difficulties, with no option to edit, delete, or start again, we do not know how to respond.

Although selfies may be fun for people to take, it is important for people to remember that every once in awhile we must take some time to look in a mirror as opposed to a cell phone image. We must get a real look at who we are and what we are doing so that we can make the necessary changes.  The real world is not driven by “likes” and “retweets”. We cannot judge our progress by society’s impressions. We need to learn to look at what’s real, head on, and evaluate our own successes and failures.
I could easily take a picture of myself, edit the image to include more hair on my head and  a more chiseled jaw line or I can choose to look in a mirror and identify some flaws that I can actually do something about.  We all need to be willing to take a real snapshot from time to time, to see an honest reflection of who we are, not just to knock our egos down a few rungs, but to also figure out how to make ourselves better. It all begins with being honest…with ourselves. Growth requires honesty. It’s as simple as that.