I have chronic migraines. I have one today. Going on about hour 22 when I took this picture. I wasn't planning on having this be the topic of this week's self-portrait, but this is a part of my life. This is what I look like when I have a migraine. Tired, in pain, possibly even a little bit defeated. I won't feel this way forever, probably not even in a few more hours. In a few more hours I will feel like a weight has been lifted and I may regret posting this photo.

This is probably the worst picture I think I have ever willingly posted of myself online. That's what migraines do. They make you look like crap and feel like crap. But one thing I have learned after having them for so many years. They will not get the best of me, they will not make me hate myself when I can't get up off of the couch for an entire day, they will not dictate my comings and goings, they will not beat me.

So while I may not look so great in this photo, I feel pretty good about it. Because even in the throes of one of these damn headaches, I got out my camera and I used it. I may not have taken an extraordinary photograph but I don't think that really matters today.

Today I had a migraine and I survived it. That's what matters.