The Pesky Problem with Old Photos of Yourself

Do you have a photo of yourself where you look “great?” Is it lodged away in an album on Facebook or in a photo book? Is it a photo taken recently? 5 years ago? 10 years ago? Photos hold a mysterious power over us. We can be fine, going about our day, and someone tags us in a memory from 2009 and suddenly we are looking at old photos of ourselves wondering, “What went wrong with my perfect body?”

Your body and life have never, ever been perfect.

Don't give your old photos more power than they deserve.

You once had a “great” body that was athletic, or slender, or unwrinkled. And now, there are a million things wrong with it. You think to yourself…” if only you had known then how good you had it.”

So you begin to google info on the Whole30 or finally commit to that gym that you have been stalling on because of money. In the moment, you are just trying to return to that glowing image of YOU. Your mind is desperately clinging to the hope that you can return to a semblance of her.

But, is it possible?

I wonder how you might feel of a picture of yourself taken today (February 2022) in 2034. Will you look at that picture and think, “Gee, I really had it going on back then, I wish I would have known!”?

The problem (and joy) of photos in general is that they only capture a millisecond of a memory. The photo is not fairly representative of your emotions and experiences of that entire day! It doesn’t represent what your fears, anxieties, frustrations, joys, and priorities were, in a holistic way.

If you have kids...how many times have you captured an incredible smile photo of one child, while the rest of the day was whining, crying, and said child got a fever that night?! If you have been there, you know pictures don't tell the whole story!

Here are 5 steps to breaking free from an emotional tailspin around the beauty of your old photographs.

So, let’s take off those stylish rose-colored glasses, friend.

The 5 Steps to Break Free from Old Photos

1. Try to remember all the events around that day the photo was taken.

2. Where were you in this time of your life? How were you spending your time? With whom were you spending it?

3. What positive memories are associated with this time? What negative memories are associated with this time? Was this time “perfect” or were you going through challenges?

4. Did you worry about your body during the time this photo was taken? Did you worry about the food you ate? Did you feel as good about your body then as you do looking at the photo now?

5. What loving, affirming, validating things would you say to this girl? What do you wish she knew?

Bonus:

What has your body done for you since then? What wrinkles has it earned? How has it continued to transform? Has it given life or planted a tree or hugged? Does it deserve a “thank you” or at minimum a “ I accept you” for carrying you through to today?

Want to see me go through these steps with an old photo of myself? Check out this post.

Thanks for thinking about this with me.