Laravel / Livewire: Ignore "image" rule when updating

Simply put, i have to update the user.

This is my validation rule for the image:

protected $rules = [
    //other rules
    "profile_image" => "sometimes|image|max:1024",
];

Mount method:

public function mount($user)
{
    //other
    $this->profile_image = $user->profile_image;
} 

The validation rules work as expected, but the problem is i store the image into the database as a string: example of how it looks profile_image: "public/images/tprYt36hk0Ztun9yKBYpUGEX3TJuAaBWMi5bSkTZ.jpg"

This means that when i want to update the user without changing the profile image, i can't because of the image validation rule, i can only pass when an image is selected.

This is how my update method looks:

public function updateCook()
{
    $this->validate();
    try {

        $image = $this->profile_image->store("public/images");

        $this->user->update([
            //other updates
            "profile_image" => $image,
        ]);

        session()->flash('success', 'User is updated');

    } catch (\Exception $e) {
        session()->flash('error', 'An error occured');
    }
}

If i remove the image validation rule and try submitting the form without uploading a new image i get Call to a member function store() on string.

I guess you are assigning $this->profile_image = $this->user->profile_image. You shouldn't do that because they have different types

public function mount($user)
{
    //other
    //$this->profile_image = $user->profile_image;
} 

If you want show image in view, use $this->user->profile_image instead

For $rules:

protected $rules = [
    //other rules
    "profile_image" => "nullable|image|max:1024",
];

Within updateCook() method:

//...
if ($this->profile_image) {
    $image = $this->profile_image->store("public/images");
    $this->user->update([
       //other updates
       "profile_image" => $image,
    ]);

   session()->flash('success', 'User is updated');
}
//..

.

I have found an answer:

protected $rules = [
    "profile_image" => "nullable|image|max:1024",
];

Then as @Khan Tran said i simply removed $this->profile_image = $user->profile_image; in the mount() method

In my updateCook() method i did this:

public function updateCook()
{
    $this->validate();
    try {
        if ($this->profile_image) {
            $image = $this->profile_image->store("public/images");
            $this->user->update([
                // + other updates
                "profile_image" => $image,
                
            ]);
        } else {
            // No new image is uploaded, update other fields only
            $this->user->update([
                //Oter updates
            ]);
        }

        session()->flash('success', 'User is updated');      

    } catch (\Exception $e) {
        session()->flash('error', 'Грешка при ажурирањето на корисникот.');
    }
}