Mirror Mirror
MIRROR MIRROR
The idea of not looking in a mirror for three consecutive days seems quite obnoxious, not to mention a challenge, but then again the feeling was what kick started my experience for the same.
At first I inverted my mirror to help me get started on my assignment but that was purely for the sake of the assignment and didn’t mean any more than that. But, a few hours into the experiment, I found myself making silly excuses to look at my reflection for reasons that I thought were valid. My first attempt was a complete failure and all I gathered from it was frustration and irritation.
Later that night, I thought I would do better as I didn’t really need to constantly check on my appearance as I was only going to fall asleep in a few hours- this was my second attempt. But little did I know that my appearance, even though I know no one else would see me, still mattered. I always thought that night was the one time during the day when how I looked didn’t matter in the comfort on my own room with no one to judge me but I soon realized that it wasn’t entirely about what everyone else thought, but in fact about how I thought I should look even when I was only going to bed. But I stayed strong and didn’t give in.
The next morning as I woke up, I found myself subconsciously walking to the floor length mirror to fix my hair and pajamas as I knew for a fact that my room-mates would be gathered in the living room with the routine cup of coffee and the usual cigarette waiting to greet me with the regular small talk. It wasn’t until I reached my mirror that I recalled that I was in between an ongoing assignment. It irked me that I couldn’t “fix” how I looked. So I walked out anyway after adjusting my hair and clothes sans mirror. Brushing my teeth was another issue altogether, how is someone supposed to brush their teeth without looking in a mirror when it’s a habit we cultivated ever since we can remember.
But nothing prepared me for what was about to happen
The idea of not looking in a mirror for three consecutive days seems quite obnoxious, not to mention a challenge, but then again the feeling was what kick started my experience for the same.
At first I inverted my mirror to help me get started on my assignment but that was purely for the sake of the assignment and didn’t mean any more than that. But, a few hours into the experiment, I found myself making silly excuses to look at my reflection for reasons that I thought were valid. My first attempt was a complete failure and all I gathered from it was frustration and irritation.
Later that night, I thought I would do better as I didn’t really need to constantly check on my appearance as I was only going to fall asleep in a few hours- this was my second attempt. But little did I know that my appearance, even though I know no one else would see me, still mattered. I always thought that night was the one time during the day when how I looked didn’t matter in the comfort on my own room with no one to judge me but I soon realized that it wasn’t entirely about what everyone else thought, but in fact about how I thought I should look even when I was only going to bed. But I stayed strong and didn’t give in.
The next morning as I woke up, I found myself subconsciously walking to the floor length mirror to fix my hair and pajamas as I knew for a fact that my room-mates would be gathered in the living room with the routine cup of coffee and the usual cigarette waiting to greet me with the regular small talk. It wasn’t until I reached my mirror that I recalled that I was in between an ongoing assignment. It irked me that I couldn’t “fix” how I looked. So I walked out anyway after adjusting my hair and clothes sans mirror. Brushing my teeth was another issue altogether, how is someone supposed to brush their teeth without looking in a mirror when it’s a habit we cultivated ever since we can remember.
But nothing prepared me for what was about to happen