I realized the other day that the pictures I use in my “professional” profiles (LinkedIn, this site, etc…) are not at all current. While I would love to be able to say that I’ve not aged physically since 2008, it would be a lie. I decided it was time to address this.
Since I now wear contacts on occasion (rather than always appearing in glasses, as I’ve had to do since turning 28), I felt like a profile pic without specs would, once again, be honest.
The picture here is pretty much the only current head shot in which I am smiling and don’t look like I just got out of bed. It’s not my favorite, but I might use it for a bit… not sure yet. While it doesn’t make me look like I’ve aged in the sense that I have lingering baby weight or numerous wrinkles, it does make me look, I don’t know, like a grown up or something.
I am not necessarily down with that.
Yeah, yeah… I try to be someone who accepts aging, and even sees the beauty in adding another year to the tally. I am more comfortable with myself than ever, and feel like I maintain a good balance of youth and “acting my age.” Really though, I hate how old that last sentence makes me sound. I am 26 inside, and that might not ever change. Part of me still identifies with the pictures in which I am hoisting a drink, throwing a leg in the air or sitting on someone’s shoulders chewing on a rose.
My 20s were an odyssey (as everyone’s should be). Once you’ve got the travel bug, it’s sometimes hard to keep still.
And so an appropriate picture with which to attract professionals-in-need is a work in progress. If you are one of said professionals, please know that I intend to present creative sophistication and the energy of a recent college grad. Please, just picture that.
For now, I hope I don’t have to wait until the next Little Black Dress Bachelorette Party to get a decent head shot.