How Reflecting on Milestones Can Inspire Your Own Growth: 10 Years of Birthday Photos

Turning 30 has brought up a lot of emotions and feelings. Some of them have been really weird and emotional. In some ways I’m further behind than I thought I’d be and in some ways I’m further ahead. I was chatting with my sister and she said “okay, well lets focus on where you’re feeling further ahead.” And I’m taking that to heart. One thing that’s been a constant in my journey is capturing a photo of myself every year around my birthday for the past decade. These photos have become a visual diary of growth, change, and self-reflection.

It feels a little weird to share these photos now because it’s literally a post dedicated to pictures of me… hello narcissism! But I hope that it inspired you to start your own tradition, or to revisit some of your old photos in a new light. And I hope that reflecting on milestones can inspire your own growth! I like seeing how I’ve changed and stayed the same over the years. It makes me excited for what the future holds.

Why I Started Taking Annual Birthday Photos

I didn’t set out to take a photo every year. But one year I’d noticed I had been doing it and I wanted to keep on doing it. So a happy accident turned into an intentional moment. You’d think being a professional photographer all of the photos would be professional, and most of them are, but they aren’t all. Some are selfies, some are self portraits, and some I hired someone for.

There is no right or wrong way to create the timeline of your life, but I’m really happy I have this one of mine.

What I’ve Learned Looking Back Over 10 Years of Photos

Okay, bear with me because I am actually crying. Here’s the first thing I learned. Just embrace yourself. In this journey you’ll see me go from skinny to fat, and at my skinniest I was miserable and I was convinced I was ugly and when I was my fattest I was miserable and convinced I was ugly. It’s only been in the last few years that I really embraced myself and committed to loving myself regardless of how I perceived myself or I thought other people perceived me.

That has been the most powerful thing for me because today my self image is based a lot more around who I am as a person and what my values are. Instead of before when it was based around how I looked. And you’ll definitely see I’ve looked lots of different ways!

BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS

That’s the second thing I’ve learned. This blog post took me forever to write because finding the images was so difficult. Back up your images with a good system!

How You Can Start Your Own Birthday Photo Tradition

I think that starting this tradition could be really fun for anyone! Thinking about my 30s instead of my 20s I don’t know if this is something I’ll continue, and if I do I think I’d like to view the images as a celebration of myself rather than strictly adhering to my birthday timeline. For instance, in this collage I included some images not near my birthday at all like when we bought our home. That was a huge milestone for us and it mattered to me a lot. I think those big yearly moments might be something I care about more than strict adherence to my actual birthday. And if I do it on my actual birthday it will be a close up of my face.

2024 –

this year I have so many favorites I chose 81 images to edit because I loved them!

how Reflecting on Milestones Can Inspire Your Own Growth - 30th birthday portraits of sam on the beach

2023

2022 –

I’m gonna be honest with you… I took my birthday photos twice this year because I felt so ugly the first time, but I am reealllllyyyyy glad I did it and I have them. I’m sharing them both here.