Sadly, I couldn't find the color version but here's the photo from below in black and white!
From Day 88 of Beautiful You:
The picture captures me as a first-year teacher and coach, age 23. In it, I am lying across desks in my classroom, dressed for coaching that after- noon’s soccer game. My cheeks are pressed into round apples, my mouth is pulled into a joker-like grin, my teeth are biting the tip of my tongue—it’s the quirky thing I do with my smile when I’m at my most joyful. My hair is pulled tightly back in a ponytail, but you can still see what inspired my student to take this picture—I’ve dyed my raven hair royal blue to celebrate our team’s first win of the season. If I could choose just one picture to show what teaching and coaching meant to me, it would be this one. The joy, purpose, and passion I felt in that work is captured in that dye job, that smile, that lack of self-consciousness. Being reminded of this young woman is like a bridge to my best self, and that is why this picture stays on my desk, even when other things come and go. It’s a flash of my core, a touchstone that’s always present, just in case I need a reminder when I am not feeling like myself.
Today: Find a photo from one of the most joyful times in your life, a time when you were content and self-satisfied—even if it’s when you were six—and place it somewhere you will see it often and be reminded of your best, most joyful self. When you are feeling down about where you are or the way you look, track your eyes over to that photo for a reminder that you have been to that place of joy and fulfillment, and that you can return.
When you think about this exercise, what photo of yours comes to mind?
I love this post, Rosie! It made me tear up and grin like a jack-o-latern at the same time!! Thanks so much for sharing it and the beautiful message with it as well!
I love this. I have a photo of me when I was five or six sitting on the top of my stairs and the smile on my face priceless. I glanced at this photo in the midst of intense yoga teacher training when we were being challenged to live our most authentic lives. That photo inspires me daily as i glance at it, it’s the reminder to live with that same innocence, exuberance and joy of a small child.