Self Portrait for a Birthday

 


I took another self-portrait to mark another birthday. A simple headshot to mark the effect of nearly a half-century of existence as Deresse.  I can hardly notice the subtle changes in how I look but I am sure they are changes because once you pass your growth stage there is no turning back. You slowly age every second. It is inevitable. Depending on what you believe you can pray and do good deeds for your afterlife but you can not reverse aging, getting old, and finally death.  

Stoping to grow physically and the aging of your body doesn't mean that you stop growing as a person but you need to put an effort into that. If you are not open-minded and curious to learn your intellectual growth will also deteriorate. I try my best to learn and understand new things as much as I can. Trying to see the world and life from different perspectives. I would say that I am wiser than I was twenty years ago and want to be much wiser next year. This doesn't mean that I regrate for being the younger naive person I was twenty or thirty years ago because the experience and what that person went through had made me into who I am today. There is a popular question people often ask " What advice would you give your younger self?". People come up with different answers from financial advice to relationship tips but when they can judge their past self and give smart advice today they forget that the same person they are trying to advise grew up to be the person they are now. So my answer to this question would be I wouldn't try to give any advice to my younger self because that person made me who I am today and I don't have any regrets for being me. 



For this year I chose to have a smiling self-portrait for two reasons. The first one is simply looking back at most of the self-portrait photos I found that I rarely smile in those pictures. I don't know why but most of my pictures were taken with my "serious face". I am not always serious so why not have some smiling pictures. The second reason is more complex and philosophical than the first one. I want to capture myself smiling to life. I am smiling because I am aware that I am alive, aware of the present, and resilient.  I see nothing is permanent in this world and accept that I am transforming every second as everything around me is doing. I can say I am more grounded now giving me another good reason to smile. 




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