Sometimes I feel like Goldilocks, constantly seeking out what is "just right" for me, especially in that fuzzy space between what is public and what is private. Last year, I quit Instagram and Linkedin and started new on Bluesky and Cara, thinking that I could let go of performing a role in an old space and become more authentic in a new space. But I eventually realized that it didn't matter what platforms I used. It was the structure of social media that didn't work for me. 

I wanted to share things that gave me joy in a pure and heart-felt way but social media was triggering my insecurities and my childhood need for validation. I was probably picking up the energy of others who felt the same way as well. So, not long ago, I also quit the new platforms and decided to make my own image gallery page without followers or likes.

I wanted to use the gallery as a portfolio for my creative hobbies but also as a place to share what I found beautiful in the world. But that triggered a critical voice in me. It told me I was arrogant for trying to show off even when I wasn't a professional photographer or crafter. But the compassionate voice in me said that the world's beauty is found within me and inside of me. I am the observer and the vessel for the beauty that reaches me. The tools I use (and my skill in using those tools) do not define the value of that beauty.

What helped me through my dissonance was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's quote that "love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction." The image gallery is an expression of my love and my search for love. But the love I want can only be found when the visitor is ready to see the beauty in me and resonate with that lens of beauty. 

After a few name changes, the page is now called Glimpses: A Visual Archive of Life's Beauty. It shows that even though individual glimpses may be brief, many glimpses together make an impression. Our lives may not be always beautiful, but our existence is always a resonance of divine beauty. Since the gallery is static, and I no longer have an image-based social media account, new "glimpses" will be posted on my blog.