A New “Now” Picture

February 8, 2009 · Posted in Catherine's Story

I’ve put this off a long time! The previous “now” picture you’ve seen here was from our first trip to Florence, Italy in December 2007. I have spent my whole life being afraid of the camera, because for most of that time I was never happy with the images it took.

Old habits die hard I had been planning to do new pictures ever since I began working on NurturingHope.com. But I always put it off. I need a haircut, I should wait until I have this or that new item of clothing — the perfectionistic excuses went on and on. Even though I’m happy with my size and how I look most of the time, I have good days and bad days like everyone does.

So finally today, thanks to encouragement from a wonderful new friend Andrea at www.TheJuicyWoman.com, I took the plunge and had my husband Martin snap a new picture for the site. Here it is!

(I love the tile wall behind me — this is taken on our front terrace in the lovely little home we have rented for our stay here in Tunisia.)

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Comments

6 Responses to “A New “Now” Picture”

Bonnie on February 9th, 2009 4:34 am

Catherine! Look at you! Lookin so snazzy! I am proud of you for taking a new picture. What I see when I look at it is a woman who has “got it together!” You are an inspiration to me!

Thanks for sharing your new pic with us!
Bonnie
Catherine MacDonald on February 9th, 2009 7:22 am

Thank you Bonnie!
Kathy G. on February 9th, 2009 4:40 pm

Catherine,
You are stunning! But more than that, you are such a positive role model for fostering healthy habits.

Yes, there will always be “reasons” not to take a photo, not to throw something out, not to break out of our comfort zone, etc. when you are stuck in a self critical, “never good enough” mind set. But the only way to get unstuck is to counter those harsh judgments with a leap of confidence and any action that affirms your progress and will reflect the “new” you that you are creating on a daily basis.

When a butterfly transcends its cocoon, it doesn’t happen overnight – it is a slow and incremental shedding, but once free of the old shell, a butterfly is forever beautiful – she flies because her transformation enabled her to leave her grounded existence and once air born, she never looks down again, she soars high and revels in her new lighter existence.

Thank you for sharing your leap of confidence, and your letting go of previous thought patterns, it is an inspiration to all.

With gratitude and admiration,
Kathy G.
Catherine MacDonald on February 9th, 2009 7:27 pm

Kathy, you are an angel I love the butterfly analogy, thank you!
Mary aka pandapicks Hofstetter on February 11th, 2009 5:34 pm

Hi Catherine, So glad you like yourself enough to share this great new image. You are an inspiration.

Mary
Catherine MacDonald on February 13th, 2009 3:06 pm

Mary, thank you for your kind words!