mirror mirror
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?"
When we look in the mirror, what do we see? I stare back at my reflection. A million different versions of myself reflect back to me.
I see tired eyes, revealing the sleepless nights filled with anxiety. The times I've tossed and turned in bed, overthinking.
I see a young girl with crooked teeth, badly cut bangs, and a ferocious spirit. She's not sure who she is yet.
The mirror shows us a raw version of ourselves. The person we try to hide doesn't stay hidden. All the good and bad come shining through. The words we say to ourselves louder than ever, the words other people say to us floating behind the reflective glass.
Even when we try to hide, we're faced with the truth. We put on makeup, do our hair a certain way, and try to play pretend. Whatever inward battle we're facing will not show. But the mirror cannot hide our truth.
All the good and the bad.
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We try to tell the mirror how we should be.
"I need to lose 10 pounds."
"My nose is too big."
"I wish I had bigger hips."
But what the mirror can't say back to us is that we're already perfect how we are. It's torturous to see every imperfection. All the good inside of ourselves. All the hurtful things that we've had others say. The mixed emotions that can be reflected back to us.
The mirror doesn't require us to be anything other than ourselves. Everything else is our own projections, our own desire to see something more or something less.
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How do we learn to love the mirror? It's hard to look at ourselves with no bias. With no shame.
We can fight what it says and cover it with blankets to remove its power.
But the only way to truly resist it is to accept it.
We have to learn to accept ourselves, the good and the bad. When we embrace all the good parts of ourselves, the lesser parts become minor. Yet, we still need to accept our flaws, they're what make us human.
Self-love comes from self-acceptance.
When I look in the mirror and see that little girl, I'm reminded why I must love myself. For every version of myself that didn't feel good enough. That let the voices of others ring louder in my head than what I believed was true.
Despite any resistance I feel when I look in the mirror, I am enough.
I am enough. You are enough.
Our worth does not change based on how we feel, look, or what other people tell us. We are enough because we're allowed to be. Imperfections and flaws, we are enough. On our good hair days and bad, we are enough. We are still enough if we've been rejected for reasons we don't understand.
We have to learn to look in the mirror with grace and acceptance, with a gentle heart that sees all the good and bad and can say back to the mirror, "My worth is not defined by what you tell me."