“No Mirror, No Problem” I set out to change something about myself. Now, believe me, this is much easier said than done. Especially if you’re someone like me that has a million and one things you’d like to change about yourself, and you’re in denial about pretty much all of them. It’s like picking a meal off a menu that you hate everything on. Though, after some reflection, I thought up something interesting and seemingly challenging. That’s where my journey began. I was walking around my house trying to think up some little things I could do or stop doing, when I found myself looking in the mirror. Just sitting there blindly staring at myself while trying to come up with something. Selfish, I know. Then I thought, “I look in the mirror way too much. Why do I look in the mirror so much? My eyebrows look like shit. THAT’S IT!” There it was, the center of all my problems. I’m the most self-critical person I’ve ever known and I think it all relates back to my image, sadly. In that moment of realization, I was a genius and I had just came up with the best, most relative idea ever. I decided what I’d do; I would not look in the mirror for two weeks. I was extremely excited to start for some strange reason. I couldn’t wait, really. Right after I had my epiphany, I ran to the hall closet, dug out an old sheet, and hung it up over the big mirror in my bathroom. I also turned around the unnecessarily large mirror I have in my hallway; it stands right across from my bedroom door, so I’m forced to watch myself strut out whenever I get hungry or whatever the reason may be. In my defense, I didn’t put it there, and it’s heavy. Those were the only two mirrors I could really just do away with. The other ones I just had to avoid because I can’t just go around stealing other people’s mirrors, not to mention it made the challenge a lot more difficult. I messed up a few times. I’d forget and flip my car mirror down, then back up real quick when I saw myself and remembered. Although, for the most part, it was super duper easy. Quite the contrary to what I was thought I was getting myself into.
I have so many mirror habits. I look in the mirror when I wake up, when I get ready, when I get ready again because I don’t like that outfit, one last time before I leave, when I finally make it to the car, etc. Way too much of my life is wasted looking at myself and critiquing every little tiny thing I can find while, in the meantime, finding something else to pick on myself about. Too many days have been spent sulking, and way too many beautiful opportunities and experiences have been merely looked past due to my obsession with the way I look and the way other people view me. The problem itself is so stupid, and indicates I have entirely too much time on my hands. I should pick up a hobby. Anyways, this challenge really changed my view on things. I would just get of bed, clean myself up, throw something on and leave. I always felt really great too, like other people couldn’t see me either, like I was just a walking personality. I noticed I was on time for things, sometimes even early, which is extremely out of character for me. My boss really appreciated it. Sometimes I wondered if I had a booger or something in my teeth, but then I thought it doesn’t matter, at least I don’t have to see it. I’m not saying image isn’t important to an extent, but it’s definitely not as important as many people including myself make it out to be.
When I took on this challenge, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I accepted it with arms wide open. I gave it my all and I seriously loved it. It was freeing. Then it just became normal to me. I got used to not looking at myself. I noticed a rapid increase in my happiness which was awesome. I’m not just going to discontinue looking in the mirror for the rest of my life, but I definitely don’t spend near as much time in front of it anymore. I rid myself of that burden and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I excluded mirrors from my life for two weeks to see if I could start being on time for the things that really matter and stop wasting all my time focusing on the all the things that really don’t.