I sent this in to the Broken Light Collective earlier this week. Make sure you check out some of the other phenomenal pictures and posts exhibited on this site by people who live less-than-ordinary lives.
Photo taken by Alice from England, who suffers from cyclothymia. More about her here.
About this photo: One of the reasons I took up photography was to avoid having my own picture taken. I’d shun any efforts to drag me into the spotlight, and I have no interest in drawing attention to myself. Being behind the camera is not only a way to calm the volcanic mind, but also a way to hide from the public arena. Similarly I’ve used my own blog Alice through the Macro Lens as a hideaway…somewhere to which I can retreat and be anyone I want to be, and until now, I’ve been “Alice,” keeper of the self-imposed bug-a-day challenge and occasional mouth piece for the noises in my head.
I have long retreated to the shadows, because I have been told, and I have grown to believe, that the real me is not…
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Alice through the Macro Lens 
Interesting (double) self-portrait, Alice – in words and image! I’m glad you’re able to acknowledge that you’re a strong – no, a formidable person, and at the same time protect yourself as much as you need to. (And as for the rules about how to look, I’d have to spend my life with a bag over my head by those standards. Make that a bag over my whole body – I’m much too short and stocky to be acceptable. Too bad 😉 !) Anyhow, I do wish you well and hope your journey takes you to places you’ll enjoy.
Thank you. It’s incredible how wary I’ve become about the way I look and aging in particular. Sad but true, because it shouldn’t matter …. but it does …. but I’ll get over it 🙂