On February 1, I  joined Caitlin Boyle and Molly Barker (and others!) in their Naked Face Project.    These women make a HUGE ripple in this river o’ life.  Among many other things, Caitlin is the founder of Operation Beautiful.  And among many other things, Molly is the founder of Girls on the Run.  

I invite you to read Caitlin’s and Molly’s motivations and observations in their respective blogs.

My motivation is this ~  I want to pay attention to what I HAVE BEEN paying a lot of attention to re: how I look to others AND how that makes me feel about myself.

It’s day 54.   The countdown has begun.  Or is it ending?  I’m not sure.

Next week, I’ll let you know what Life-After-Naked-Face is like.   For THIS Moment though, here are the five greatest gifts I’ve received from it:

1. My skin is in the best shape it’s been in YEARS.  This is one of those ‘blinding glimpse of the obvious (BGO)’ gifts.  It’s that whole garbage in- garbage out thing.  By simply caring for my skin – rather than covering up its imperfections –  there are now fewer IMperfections to cover.   There has to be a metaphor in there somewhere.  🙂
2. My hair seems no more ‘manageable’ WITH products than without.   My hair has ALWAYS been my biggest ‘cosmetic’ adventure.  It’s thin, fine and has a mind of its own.  NOT using ‘products’ or a curling iron hasn’t change my hair, but it has changed how I look at it.    I’m reminded of a former Durham neighbor who spent MUCH energy trying to keep squirrels out of his bird feeder.  His life changed for the better after he hung a “squirrel feeder” sign in front of his bird feeder and simply celebrated  success.  He changed his frame of reference.  And so have I.
3.   ‘Getting ready’ is much more of an internal process than an external one.   By paying less attention to what I look like to others, I’m able to give more attention to others.  Talk about a BGO.
4. My physical load is MUCH lighter.   My BIG red purse Adventure explains this one best.
5. What others think of me is none of my business. I’m a 53-year-old woman.  By some standards, that’s ancient.  By others, it’s infantile.  By mine, it Is.   I get some things right.  I get some things wrong.  Sometimes, who I am and what I do pleases people.  Sometimes, not so much.  Here’s the gig – I get to bring what gifts I have to offer to The Table.  And you get to bring yours.  It’s not about comparison.   It’s about a  gift-laden- Table, from which we all benefit.    Ohhhh… I LOVE a good metaphor.  🙂

What say ye?