My selfie is more beautiful than I am. For that matter, every time I feel low, I take a selfie and put it up on my social media handle. Between my selfie and I, there are a few differences. In my selfie, I like my jaw, it looks taut, and my skin looks flawless, and of course, all the weight I have put on doesn’t show. I was talking to a friend, a man in his late 40s and newly single. He is on several dating platforms, and he fears that when he meets the woman who thinks he is going to be his soulmate, she looks different in person — someone not at all like the image on the app. So here he starts thinking, would this person be ideal for him.

At a fundamental level, the selfie is not the truth. Filters, angles, lights make her a different person. Can one have a relationship a person who posts an image that is so far away from her real-life self? (And women alone are not guilty here!)

But I like the lies my selfie tells. It creates a better version of me. Things that I have no control over, my emotions, my lines, my experiences — it corrects them all. Also it is a brilliant opportunity to allow a sneak peek into my life. The dinners I attend, the clothes I wear, my girlfriends and the sangria I drink — it shows where I am. It sums up my status, leisure and whereabouts only through one image. And the high I experience after a crush from school days leaves a comment on my status! I am no longer the current me, I am the 16-year-old all over again.

So here I go. After writing this piece, I take out my selfie stick and hold the camera up at an angle, from where my pout looks perfect. The caption is going to be: A day
well spent.

What is truth? My selfie is me too.