#comeseehowgoodilook

Day 7 of #RedeemTheSelfie

Challenge: Physical Friday

Post a picture of yourself doing something physical: working out, walking, running, lifting, energetically eating things, running away, or a part of you that you’re proud of.

Reluctant to post this... seems too much like, “Look at me! Come see how good I think I look...” #ronburgundy I’m usually proud of my legs - I’ve always had really strong legs, but the job I currently have has really gotten my shoulders and arms... can’t say I’m opposed to it.

I’ve found myself getting concerned with the number of likes, favorites, or notes that this is producing... 1. It’s nothing I can influence... 2. Not the point Scott... It’s so much easier to think and focus on the #2 in the original post, how you capture yourself, than it is to think of how you see yourself, or how/why you share your image with others.

I’m not sharing this image to show y'all how beefcake-y I am... it’s one of those selfies (ugh, that word again) that comes up A LOT and I wanted to do it. It’s probably my least favorite one to date. It really feels like showing off or one-upping... I can see if you’ve just done something physical you’re really proud of and you want to share the moment, but shots like these just seem to shout something I don’t really like...

I’ve never been really comfortable with my body (not comparing to women AT ALL)... I was quite the chubster when I was younger. I’ve always thought my love handles were too big, my chest not big enough, etc. There are messages about how men should look, and I’m trying to just live in my skin.

Day 1 of #redeemtheselfie

Challenge: BREAK THE ICE SELFIE Let’s ease into this shall we?! Take a selfie with someone you are comfortable with: family, friend, random stranger… Whoever! Post here or on Instagram with the hashtag #redeemtheselfie !

This one is easy for me. It’s inly the first day and my son is way cuter and photogenic than I am.

Right off: I don’t like “selfies.” 

I don’t like the word, “selfie.” I tend to judge people who relentlessly post selfies day in and day out. I largely thing that they are self-absorbed narcissists who are their own self-promoters in all-things-life over social media... 

Have I mentioned I don’t like selfies?

However, I’d really like to try and take a look at it from a different angle if I can, and seeing as this selfie thing isn’t going away, neither is the selfie-stick (God help us all), I would like to try to see it from another point of view...

the point of view of the selfie-ist... (I think I made a new word there).

Everyday for the month of August... yes, everyday... I will be taking a selfie and posting it here, and on Instagram (@s_t_robertson). I’m really not looking forward to the new daily routine, but I really hope to learn something here...

There are three things going on with the selfie:

1. How you see yourself.

2. How you capture yourself.

3. How to display yourself to others.

The second one is a matter of experience and technique... I’m confident I’ll figure that one out. 

The third I’ll really be running the gamut: taking some of the classic selfie pics: the eating selfie, the workout selfie, the just woke up selfie, the just going to bed selfie, the working selfie, the mirrors-mirrors-everywhere selfie, different angles, the criticize-myself-but-fish-for-compliments selfie, etc... but I’ll be trying to not just capture myself looking good (”Hey everybody, come see how good I look!”) but in moments and with a look I don’t want to capture, let alone share with all of you...

My hope, is that over the next month I’ll discover more about #1. How do I see myself? Do I not take selfies because I don’t like what I see? Will I see myself differently at the end? Will I develop an enhanced ego? Will I see how others and God see me better? Will I think of myself as more important? Will I carry myself differently?

I’m not trying to revolutionize the selfie... I’m trying to step into it and see what it means for me...

and I am inviting you all along for the ride.

If you’re still reading this (I hope you are), I will post a daily selfie challenge to capture yourself in a particular pose, while thinking about something in particular, in different places, etc. along with a brief reflection on how I’m feeling about this selfie-xperiment.

Use the hashtag, #redeemtheselfie

Join the madness:

Instagram: @s_t_robertson