Image
The final challenge of the 30 day writing challenge: “
Mess up your hair. If you are wearing makeup – smudge it. If you have a pair of pants that dont really fit you – put them on. Put on a top that doesn’t go with those pants. Go to your sock drawer. Pull out two socks that don’t match. Different lengths, materials, colors, elasticity.
Now two shoes. You know the drill.
Need to add more? Ties? Hair clips? Stick your gut out? I trust you to go further.
Take a picture.
Get ready to post it online.
Are you feeling dread? Excitement? Is this not the image you have of yourself? Write about the fear or the thrill that this raises in you? Who do you need to look good for and what story does it tell about you? Or why don’t you care?”
So. Right of the bat I’m going to admit to being unable to do this one. I still have a professional job- I don’t need a photo like this showing up on a Google search by a client or someone higher up in the company. I have got photos of me on the Kilimanjaro climb posted. That’s about as far as I’m willing to go.
But it is good, I think, to stop and think about the image we are trying to portray and why. I recently switched from working in a hospital where I wore scrubs 95% of the time, to a job in Corporate America, which requires business suits on some days and just a step below that the rest of the time. And I’m struggling a bit with that transition. It doesn’t feel like me. I’m not the sort who likes to stress out over what to wear every day. I absolutely hate to shop. And sometimes I’m even a little irritated that I’m expected to wear uncomfortable shoes just because they’ve been deemed to “look good”. I’m working on playing the game- some days better than others- so that can do well in this job. The work itself is a good fit for me at this time.
So I’m evolving into a situation where I have two images- my at work image, and my free time image. And it’s interesting. I find that my thoughts and attitude are starting to be affected as I change my physical image from one role to the other. Put on the suit, I’m in business mode. In my free time clothes, I’m back to my old self.
Could it be that our images are as much for ourselves as for others?
Its hard to moderate both public images – personal and business. I think this is why Myspace got such a boom, because it was a haven of anonymity, where you could do silly things with your image with no repercussions.