“Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Whose the the fairest one of all?” – quote from Snow White
I know that body image and body shaming are topics that are often discussed and/or written about. It is an important conversation to have. But at what age do we start having this conversation? How can we expect our kids to understand that we are so much more than our physical appearance when we begin teaching them from the beginning of their lives that good people are beautiful and bad people are ugly? I mean, we don’t say that verbally, but it is passed on through fairy tales and stories and television, etc. Why can’t the good witch be less physically attractive than the bad witch? Hmm. And, it is not just the stories and television, those are just a couple of examples because as you well know, there is plenty of blame to go around. I personally think that we can blame a lot on mirrors. Yep, mirrors, and other image recording devices, but I’m stuck on the mirrors.
Is it possible that image shaming might be eliminated and self esteem could improve if we just got rid of all of our mirrors? Let’s suspend reality for a minute and pretend that we did not have cameras or video recorders or any other device that allows us to see our own images. If we had no mirrors to admire ourselves in, then I would not know what I looked like, and you would not know what you looked like. So, how could we feel that we were better or prettier than the other if we had no idea what our own appearance was?
Some people believe that mirrors can steal your soul. I tend to agree with that. Not necessarily from a supernatural point of view, but because I don’t think it is good for us to spend too much time reflecting (see what I did there!) on ourselves. Who has never stood in front of the mirror thinking that he/she is too fat or thin or that the hair looks horrible, the nose is too big or that the face has too many wrinkles, etc? I do it more often than I would like. I think it is because mirrors can magnify our insecurities, both real and imagined, and cause us to spend entirely too much time focusing on ourselves. I believe that happiness, positivity, love and doing for others feeds the soul. If that is true, then wouldn’t the soul suffer if we are always focused inward, rather than focusing outward to our friends, family, neighbors, etc.?
But, how do we minimize the amount of time spent on our own images, be it from the mirror or from the camera and social media pages? How do we stop comparing ourselves to others? Why can’t we focus on the positive things about us rather than what we believe is the negative? Have we lost so much of our souls that we can’t make them whole again? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions. I’m just one little introvert with deep thoughts and shallow words.
Maybe I will experiment and vow to go a full day tomorrow without looking in the mirror at all. But, on second thought, my pride won’t let me leave the house without at least trying to look decent. I will, however, think about it a lot. And while I may not always feel great about myself, I will always do what I can to make others feel great about themselves.