Blogger Challenge: Be Brave

So I spent a lot of yesterday pondering what to do for the first Project EveryBody Blogger Challenge. I was thinking about a song I love and an outfit, in SL, that for some reason I didn’t want to buy in the color combo to which I was really drawn. You’ll see that outfit on my regular blog, probably either later today or tomorrow. But I just couldn’t wait until I’d done my own post to share the Challenge with y’all, and let you get started.

I had the Sara Bareilles’ song “Brave” playing in my mind. I love her and I love this song and I think I love the video even more, so here it is (it may not work in all locations, due to copyright laws, and for that I apologize).

If you can’t view the video, try doing a search on it. In the meantime, here’s a link to the lyrics.

So here is your mission, should you choose to accept it (Side note: I’ve been referring to Project EveryBody as “The Project,” which makes me feel a bit like some sort of spy or something. I just thought you should know).

In the words of Sara Bareilles, I wanna see you be brave. This isn’t simply about stepping outside of your comfort zone a little bit… it’s bigger than that. It’s more about challenging your own preconceived notions of what is beautiful, or someone else’s. I think it’s easy to get hung up on “current trends” in fashion and style. Even here in SL where, though the world is smaller, it’s somehow also so much vaster in terms of limitations.

Ask yourself this question… what is a look I’ve always wanted to try, one that for some reason, I never have dared? It doesn’t need to be radical. You’ll see soon enough that mine really isn’t all that dramatic, but the story of mine, well, that’s where the crux of the matter lies. So why? Does wearing that low cut dress or the super high, so-called “hooker heels” make you feel somehow “trashy” or “dumb” even though you know it doesn’t change who you are, even though your IQ won’t drop 10 points simply by virtue of wearing some pixel shoes (or RL ones, for that matter)? The reverse is also true. Do you consider your av’s persona, whether an accurate reflection of your own RL persona or not, to be “too sexy” to wear glasses? Or to dress up as a character from, let’s say, Game Of Thrones? Is that too “nerdy” or “geeky” for you, even if on some level you want to do it? Are you secretly in awe of those who dare to wear these things, but afraid of how others will see you? Or is it more about how you see yourself? These are all questions that this Challenge gives us the chance to ask ourselves. I haven’t even written my post yet, but I do have my look put together for it, and I’ve already learned a lot about why I’ve avoided looks like it, despite the fact that I love, love, love it… and I’d have loved it on someone else, too. And thought, wow, I wish I could pull that off, or I wish I were brave enough to try something like that!

Whatever the “issue” is… I want you to be brave. I want you to put on that outfit (or take it all off!) or that avatar, and I want you to take a beautiful picture that only you can take that captures what you want with the look. Then I want you to lay your soul bare, and tell us… why was this brave for you? Why was this hard? Do you even know yet? Maybe if you participate, you will! Let’s see what we can learn about ourselves, about each other. Let’s be fearless.

If you’re so inclined to talk about the Project, and why you’ve chosen to participate in it, that would be awesome, too. But that part isn’t required. I just want to see your posts!

So, there you have it. There’s your first ever Project EveryBody challenge. Will you be brave with me?

~Lucie

PS. If you are brave, please share your links in the comments! I want to see them all. Also feel free to join, and add pics to, our Flickr group. Also, if you use it and haven’t already, you can follow The Project on Plurk!