Perception vs. Reality

People often say "Perception is reality." Like if people perceive you as a bitch, chances are, you are a bitch. But I tend to disagree, those who focus on perception, usually don't want to take the time to see what the reality really is and therefore have a skewed perception.
A skewed perception is what I am battling, as are I think, many of us.
I found a before picture and sent it off to Coach K. It was hideous. And the problem is, I honestly didn't think I looked that bad, that day. I had a skewed perception. My problem is, I sent her an "in progress" shot, because I'm not ready for "After" yet. As I looked at it, my skewed perception sneaked up on me again. You see, when I was on vacation, I was feeling like a million bucks, feeling like I looked like one hot bitch...in fact, I tried taking a few pictures of myself in the mirror because I felt I looked so good. It must have been the 84,000 beers I had and Don's cigar smoke making me crazy because when I stood still to have my picture taken this morning, I thought I looked like ass...not just regular ass..like a big ol' fat, hot mess of an ass. (I was going to use a picture of Dan and I as my during, since that it what my before picture is, but the ones of us together, we are all bundled up at the game, so I had to have my co-workers just take a snap shot of me this morning.)
The problem I have is...I still see the six chinned, beer bellied girl who's Indian name could be "Sits on Three Asses." I don't see that I have changed, even though when I held up my new jeans to show the other girls on our trip Dan said, "there is no way you can fit those," and I promptly stripped down and put them on just to prove it to him. I don't see that I have lost nearly 50 pounds. I don't SEE that I can run or last an hour on the elliptical.
I still see my skewed perception.....I haven't won that battle yet.