Girl in the mirror

Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me? Ok, you can continue singing that song or read my article or both. The choice is yours but I hope by now you probably have an idea what I am going to talk about. I think this can somehow be related to JonicaBradley's Writing Prompt #3: Similarities.

Whenever you look at the mirror, what do you see? Do you see yourself or do you see someone else? Seems like a creepy question but if you will think profoundly about my question, you would know that there is a much deeper meaning as to why I have asked that question.

We look at the mirror to check our appearances or when we are going to tidy ourselves. Majority of us look at ourselves in the mirror at least once a day unless you have eisopthrophobia.

According to Flushing Hospital website, Eisopthrophobia is a rare but true condition, that causes sufferers to be irrationally fearful of mirrors or seeing themselves in a mirror.

When I was a kid, I never really like looking at the mirror. It is not that I hate seeing myself but I am not the kid who cares about whether I have a dirt on my face or a booger on my nose or even a food stuck in between my teeth. In short, I do not care about my physical appearance back then. I even do not care what people might say about me. It was when I was in high school when I became conscious of my looks probably because I already had my braces. I would always check if I had something in between my braces but it was very seldom that I do. Of course if there is nothing on my braces, the next that I would look at is my nose because of my blackheads and whiteheads. I would always remove them by pinching and popping every pimple that I have. I do not know if you have also done it before but there is something in popping them that clears my head. Those were the only things that I look at. I do not need to look in the mirror to fix my hair because my only hair was always in ponytail that I even dabbed a lot of gel on it. Even if my classmates would make fun of how hard my hair was, I did not care nor did I bother checking it.

The only thing that was in my pocket before was my mirror and my handkerchief though I am not really a handkerchief type of person. I would use our uniform's tie if I would wipe something on my face. LOL. I would panic if I do not have my mirror with me. I even had a lot of extra pocket mirrors at home so if ever someone forgets to return mine, I would have a new one the following day. I used to buy the clam shell type pocket mirror from Anonymous, a store in the Philippines in the early 2000s which is similar to Muji store.

Mirror was the only thing that I must have with me before and I cannot leave the house without it. I do not know if I am already considered as a vain or narcissist but my mirror was like my smartphone, it was always in my hands. However when I was in college, I have noticed that I seldom look at the mirror. I still have my braces but my skin improved as I do regular visits to a dermatologist but I am not that conscious about my braces anymore or maybe I am do not have any pimples to pop. Either or I can say that I only look at the mirror only when I feel like looking at myself. My friend A would always have a mirror on her desk and we would sometimes caught her smiling. I remember our friend even asked us why there are some people who would take so long in front of the mirror looking at theirselves in every angle when nothing is going to change because you would still look the same. Do you take long in looking at yourself in the mirror or do you just glance?

For me I just glance but if I am to put some makeup, it would take a few minutes. I looked at the mirror and I recognized the face and we both have the same look obviously because it was my reflection. I see myself. I see me. Most of the times I am dull looking but sometimes I am all dolled up. I smile, she smiles. I cry, she cries. I laugh, she laughs. Whatever I do in front of the mirror, it reflects on it. Some similarities right? Aside from our family, friends and loved ones, the mirror has also seen the changes in our face, our body and in our life. The mirror has witnessed a lot about us. But what do you really see when you look at the mirror? Do you see your flaws? Do you praise your looks? Or you stare at it for too long because you have a lot to say to yourself?

There are times that I do not like to look in the mirror because I can see my reflection. I can see myself, I can see my round face, my chubby cheeks, my pimples and other than that I can also see my failures, my frustrations and my pain. There are also times that I see the strong me, the happy me, the pretty me and the hardworking me. Can you relate? Is it similar to you? The longer that I look at myself in the mirror, the longer do I compare my past and my present. I may have a love-hate relationship with the mirror but I see to it that I acknowledge the person that I see in front of the mirror.

The mirror not only reflects my physical appearance but it also somehow helps me to reasses myself. I don't think that we need Snow White's magic mirror to tell us who we are as a person. A mirror has a lot of purposes like showing to us our physical appearance, our flaws and also our self-worth. It helps us to see things clearly to examine ourselves. It also helps us understand how we look at ourselves both outwardly and inwardly. I hope that we choose to love who we see in the mirror even the imperfect you because what matters most is what's inside.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? — Queen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

P.S. lead image is my photo when I was at work. It came out blurred and I was able to connect it with my love life before. LOL.