Yup, that’s the real me. And I’m actually rather proud of that picture taken at a family gathering last fall. Sometimes those casual pics when you’re relaxed and having fun are the best.
What you can’t see in this picture is the inside of me. What things I believe in. How I treat others. Why honesty is so important to me. Or the things I still want to learn and accomplish even though my hair is white.
No. I am not finished. I still have lots to do. Here are some of my dreams not yet fulfilled:
- Record some of my own songs written over the last thirty years.
- Learn more about acrylic painting.
- Write more books.
- Increase my marketing efforts to get my existing books further out into the world.
- Help other writers with the how-tos in self publishing.
- Do more speaking gigs further and further afield, talking about my books and my writing career.
- et cetera
So there you have it. This blue-eyed, white-haired lady still has a lot of miles to go before she sleeps.
I Believe in Honesty
Honesty is so important to me that I rarely tell a lie, and if I do it’s to avoid hurting someone else or something similar. When my grandson asks me questions about life, some of which are pretty surprising, I tell him the truth. Even if it hurts. Of course, I explain in terms he can understand but I let him know I am a real person and I don’t always make the right decisions. Honesty is important to me.
My First Headshot
With that in mind I turn to Lisa LaFlamme and her being fired from her top on-air job on CTV a few months ago. Apparently her gray hair was the deciding factor. I still can’t get over it. And it is the reason I decided to change my head shot image.
As happened to so many other women, I was prompted by COVID to stop colouring my hair, a process that was annoying to have to keep up, cost me money and went against my being the real me. I am more than what the colour of my hair is. You are, too.
Here is the head shot I have used for about ten years. It was done professionally; hence the absence of laugh lines et cetera. My new one was taken in my daughter’s kitchen and I have no special makeup on, there is no retouching happening and those are my real teeth. For better or worse you are seeing the real me.
I think it’s time we women insist on being accepted for who we are as a total package, not for what we might look like.
What is the Takeaway From All of This?
Let’s teach our children and learn ourselves to value people for who and what they are, not what they look like. You can see that statement has a broader reference than just talking about hair. And that’s ok.
One final thought for you. How stupid a society is to undervalue roughly 50% of its population just because they are female.
So I hope you like the new headshot. My husband and I love it.
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Canada: Brave New World Launching in June!
