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I keep copies of most of the photos I've ever taken with a digital camera, adding up to a few terabytes of data. While it might be a self-centered exercise, I also copy certain photos of myself from those archives and collect them all in one place.
Looking back on those photos simultaneously gives me feelings of nostalgia and a much-needed perspective on the person I've been. The locations of the photos or what I'm doing in them change over time, and the way they change is representative of how my life has changed as I've grown up. Even little clues like what I'm wearing or the quality of the image reflect what stage of my life I was in. I often remember the days the photos were taken quite vividly.
This has been important as I've continued on my journey to live a more healthy lifestyle. I've been losing weight in fits and starts, and when my weight loss stalls, sometimes I get discouraged and I start to feel like I haven't made any progress at all. I can get rid of that feeling by looking at my photos: I weighed my heaviest in May of 2018, and I've lost forty pounds since then. That change is quite evident in photos from four years ago versus photos from last month.
Seeing my appearance evolve over time also gives me confidence to continue. I like how I look now, compared to how I looked back then. Of course I don't look quite as youthful as I once did, but I definitely look healthier.
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[Last updated: 2022-01-21]