I was staying at someone’s house awhile back and they had a mirror in the living room. It was a typical rectangular mirror you’d get at Target; one you put on your bedroom door so you can see your entire outfit. But this mirror was magic. I looked so good in it! I couldn’t get over how skinny I looked! I recalled another mirror in a friend’s bathroom that made my face look flawless; could it be worth changing all the mirrors in my house?
Now, I don’t have too much of a body image problem and I know I’m not fat. I’ve learned to accept and appreciate my body and to never point out what I don’t like about myself because there’s a good chance that nobody would notice it until I make them aware of it. I also understand that my perception of my physical self is different from everyone else’s. I’ve learned to trust that difference, which usually keeps me from diving headlong into that heavy swirl of negative body image.
Nonetheless, I stood in front of this mirror and marveled at how good I looked! I stood in front of it many times each day and allowed myself to gain the lasting benefits of feeling so good about myself. At some point I thought, “maybe this is how everyone else sees me,” which was such a profound thought. And one that made me stand tall with more confidence than ever. It is, after all, entirely possible.
We spend so much time looking at what we don’t like about ourselves, especially as we get older. We see ourselves in mirrors and pictures, in some we look good and in some we look awful. Why do we base our self-image on the awful ones?
The shift in perspective that this mirror gave me was a healthy one. For once, I’m choosing the good pictures to rest my reality on. I could feel myself letting go of what I THOUGHT I looked like or what I perceived from the mirrors in my home; the ones with bad lighting and the ones that seem to highlight the less-than-perfect spots.
So I am on the hunt for my own magical mirror. One that will keep reminding me to see myself as everyone else does.
