{"product_id":"the-image-i-choose-alfred-e-smith-9798181365810","title":"The Image I Choose: How I Reclaimed the Self That Was Given Away","description":"\u003cb\u003eWHAT IF THE PERSON YOU BECAME WAS SHAPED BEFORE YOU EVER HAD THE CHANCE TO CHOOSE?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor more than thirty years, Dr. Alfred E. Smith lived inside an identity built around ministry, leadership, responsibility, and the expectations of others. He was respected, accomplished, educated, and deeply committed to the role he had been given.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen the role disappeared-and the internal picture holding his life together began to collapse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Image I Choose\u003c\/b\u003e is an intimate and deeply honest memoir about losing an inherited identity, confronting the beliefs that shaped it, and rebuilding a life from the inside out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter leaving the pastorate and moving to North Carolina, Dr. Smith expected a new chapter of leadership to begin. Instead, he entered a wilderness of isolation, grief, spiritual uncertainty, and profound questions about who he was without the title, platform, community, and calling that had defined him for decades.\u003c\/p\u003eWHEN A ROLE BECOMES YOUR IDENTITY, WHO ARE YOU WHEN THE ROLE IS GONE?\u003cp\u003eThrough powerful personal stories, Dr. Smith examines how parents, religious communities, family systems, cultural expectations, failures, and positions of responsibility can quietly install an internal image of who we are supposed to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver time, that image can become so familiar that we mistake it for our true identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is not an attack on faith, family, ministry, or the church. It is a compassionate examination of what happens when love, fear, obligation, purpose, and identity become intertwined-and what it takes to separate them without rejecting everything that came before.\u003c\/p\u003eINSIDE THIS BOOK, YOU WILL EXPLORE: \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow authoritative voices and emotionally charged experiences shape self-image\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy approval, performance, and responsibility can replace authentic identity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow survival skills can be mistaken for personality or purpose\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat happens when a career, calling, relationship, or leadership role ends\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow grief and unexpected emotional responses can reveal unfinished inner work\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy questioning an inherited identity is not failure, betrayal, or rebellion\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow to distinguish the person you truly are from the image you were taught to carry\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow the S.E.L.F. I.M.A.G.E. Method(TM) can support the process of rebuilding from within\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003eA MEMOIR OF LOSS, AWAKENING, AND RECLAIMING THE SELF\u003cp\u003eWritten with vulnerability, wisdom, and compassion, this book speaks to anyone who has outgrown an identity that once gave their life structure and meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is for former leaders, pastors, professionals, caregivers, high achievers, adult children carrying family expectations, and spiritually formed people who no longer fit comfortably inside the answers they were given.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is also for anyone standing at the edge of a new chapter and asking: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWho am I when I am no longer performing the role everyone recognizes?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith personal reflection prompts throughout, \u003cb\u003eThe Image I Choose\u003c\/b\u003e invites readers to identify the image they inherited, understand where it came from, and begin forming an identity that is chosen rather than assigned, authentic rather than performed, and true rather than merely familiar.\u003c\/p\u003eYOU DO NOT HAVE TO DESTROY YOUR PAST TO RECLAIM YOUR FUTURE.\u003cp\u003eYour story does not end when an old identity falls apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat may be the moment your real life finally begins.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alfred E. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798181365810\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 94\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.19d","brand":"Alfred E. Smith","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49173679505663,"sku":"9798181365810","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_abbe8204-cf3c-48b0-938e-b237f0a12ac8.jpg?v=1788955924","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-image-i-choose-alfred-e-smith-9798181365810","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}