Tutorial How to change your avatar picture on the forum

I chose my avatar because it is how I would like to be--calm, tranquil, relaxed.

 

I chose my picture because I'm standing inside an extinct volcano!

 

Mine is wholly unoriginal (it's me)...although, I chose this particular picture of myself because it's one I really like, one that, when I look at it, I feel good about myself.

Ellen, I have always admired yours. I especially love the colors. It makes me feel calm and relaxed just by looking at it!

 

That is a great picture of you, Becca! Wish I could say I looked like my avatar and could help others relax just by looking at me. Sigh...

 

I chose this for my avatar because I love dogs and especially my present darling Annie who is 70 pounds of pure
unconditional love. But I don't think of myself as pictured at 83. I have younger images of me that I will share now,
and I still think of myself in those earlier years.

 

I love it!!!

Where is that? It's a gorgeous setting. Very serene.

 

more walt

I'm the younger boy with my brother.

 

I'm about to take a week-long wilderness canoe trip in the Minnesota-Ontario Boundary Waters.
I went on several of them, one for two weeks, and they were my best vacations.
No one else around, on thousands of lakes and forested islands. You really live in the present with nature.
Lakes and rivers to paddle on, portages through forest trails, loons calling on the waters, just perfect communion with nature.

 

That sounds simply divine, Walt.

I don't know if anyone really pictures themselves as they really are. I was video-chatting with my sister last night to help her prep for a long-distance interview. I showed her how she could change the settings on the video chat service so she could see herself on the screen (instead of me) and she immediately said, "Oh my god, do I really look like that when I talk? Are my cheeks really that red?" and so on. Point being, we all have ideas of how we think we look and they often differ from the truth. I think this applies to how we feel about ourselves internally as well. My perfectionist parts require me to believe I am far less of a person than I am, in all respects. Others, perhaps, have the opposite problem - an inflated sense of self.

I don't know if it's really possible to have an accurate self-perception but I sure would like to have a balanced one, or at the very least a healthy one! The picture I use here as my avatar was taken at time I was just starting to really feel confident about myself again - when I finally started having some days where I could tell myself I was pretty or smart or kind, and I wouldn't then freak out about how terrible those statements were, and how I could never, ever tell myself those things ever again, how stupid that would be to even assume them. So I guess my avatar represents having confidence in myself, and gaining a more balanced view of myself. (Though if I'm being completely honest, I don't think I was aware of this meaning at the time at all! But perhaps they can gain meaning...? )

 

That photo of my brother and me. We were only close for the photographer.
And years later when playing golf together.
Otherwise, we were total opposites and didn't connect.
I found "brothers" in several friends. So I didn't miss out on that "many-splendored thing."

 

I chose this avatar because I rock! ... and I have a sense of humor. If anyone loves Disney World as much as I do, you'll recognize this as the sign on the ladies' room at the Rock and Roll Roller Coaster.

It's actually pretty appropriate for this website, because I am terrified of roller coasters, but after years of hearing how fun this one is, I overcame my fear and rode it. I was so terrified waiting in the line, and I almost bailed a number of times, but I did it, and I had a blast! And I ignored my back pain to do it. So in a way, it's symbolic of the journey I'm starting here - overcoming the fear and forgetting the pain.