It was about time!

Thanks to the current hottest internet trend, I did something that I probably should have done nine years ago.

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For 10 years I have decided to hang on to youth, euphoria, and the mystique that only a decade-old black-and-white photo can pack. Since 2016, I have kept the same Facebook profile photo for 90% of the days leading up to this past weekend.

During a special photo shoot that took place during our honeymoon in Cancun, Sid hopped on my back as I ran along the shore of the beach. Even though the photographer told us what to do, the looks on our faces were as genuine as they come: happiness, exuberance, and carefree.

The photographer snapped the photo and produced a result that would take up prime real estate within my digital presence for years to come.

This image was my Facebook profile photo for the better part of 10 years.

It debuted as my Facebook profile photo on June 23, 2016. It would be replaced a few times in 2017, most notably with a photo taken of Sid, Sloan, and me shortly after our daughter’s birth. I would eventually revert to our honeymoon photo by the end of the year where it would stay until I switched it out for a short period in 2019 with a photo of Sid and me at dinner. That photo didn’t last long before it was back to the classic. It would stay in its place for seven solid years until this past Friday.

This photo was one of the rare images that spent time as my profile photo during an era that was dominated by the honeymoon beach photo.

When the new year started, so did a new trend. People became nostalgic about 2016 and decided to rewind a decade to remember that year with photos, video, and thoughts.

As I watched what seemed like half my social media connections take part in the trend, a realization hit: I had no business participating myself. Why? Well, I had been participating in it for the past 3,650 days.

This photo had a short stint as my Facebook profile photo in 2019. After that, I used the honeymoon beach photo for 7 straight years until this past weekend.

Instead of swapping my profile photo as I grew older (and looked older), I opted to keep the image of Sid and me etched in time running along the beach in sunny Cancun. Others deserved to throw it back to 2016 but I needed to get out of it.

Rather than continuing to use a photo from 10 years ago, I grabbed a photo from 10 months ago. Still using an image of my bride and me, I opted for something a little more recent but just as joyful. I turned to a happy photo of the two of us in Disney World when Sid was honored for her achievements with Traveler’s. Once it uploaded, I thought to myself, that’s more like it.

This is my new Facebook profile photo.

I decided I didn’t want to be that teacher in the high school yearbook who uses an almost unrecognizable photo from the 1990s year-after-year. Thanks to a silly trend, I was finally able to let go. Don’t Blink.