Looking in the mirror is something I do every day and usually, it’s no big deal: I take a look, I see myself, sometimes I’m tired, sometimes I look good, I do what I do, and then I step away and go on with my life. But then there are the days when I look in the mirror and this self-hate takes ahold and criticizes every single thing I see: my freckles turn into sun spots, my smile lines are nothing but wrinkles, my curly hair looks unruly and frizzy, and jokes that I’ve heard about Mexican women having mustaches seem to have been inspired by me, and I curse the mirror and I curse myself.
I had one such run in with a vanity mirror in the car the other day. I was sitting there waiting for my husband while he shopped and our youngest was asleep in her car seat. Out of boredom or a deep desire to piss myself off, I pulled down the car’s sun visor and opened the mirror and what I saw made me scowl until I noticed the scowl, shook my head, and said to myself, “Mirrors are not for picking yourself apart.” Then I shut the mirror and let it go and let myself be.
I know I’m not the only one that does this and I know there are others who do it more often. I wanted to write about it to remind myself and to remind others that mirrors are not for picking yourself apart. If you need the reminder on a regular basis, go ahead and print out the “mirror” PDF file I created and paste it somewhere near your mirror and when you hear your thoughts turning into criticisms of what you see in the mirror, look at the image and remind yourself that mirrors are not meant for picking yourself apart.
