It all started on a Monday morning. I covered the mirrors of my apartment with towels, kraft paper, tape. That of the bathroom, that of the bedroom, that of the corridor. I also disabled the front camera on my phone. For seven days, I no longer had to meet my reflection. No more “quick glance”, no more instinctive touch -up, more make -up verification. Nothing. The void.
The invisible mirror: when you continue to self-juger without reflection
The first hours were strange. I continued to make automatic gestures: replace a wick, go up my pass, straighten myself, as if my reflection was there. My mental mirror had not gone.
And very quickly, I surprised myself to ask myself: what am I looking like right now? Do I look good? Do my hair fall well? The lack of a visual response amplified the small inner voice. As if the mirror, even turned off, remained alive in my head.
But as the days passed, something was released. I started not to think about it anymore. To go out without checking my complexion. To make my beauty gestures in instinct, without visual validation. And above all, to be softer with myself.
What I really felt: freedom, discomfort … and surprises
Strangely, I rediscovered the texture of my skin, to the touch. I felt my dark circles not as a defect, but as a fatigue that I could listen to. I agreed not to “control” the image I referred to others. I looked at others more, too, without comparing myself.
What I learned:
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We spend more time looking at ourselves than we think (even without realizing it);
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The mirror is sometimes a silent judge, even in the right days;
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Freeing yourself from the mirror is also learning to trust your feelings rather than your image.
The most surprising thing is that some people told me that week that I looked good. Ironically: it is precisely when I no longer looked at that I felt a little more myself.
