There's a new trend among women to go on what is being called a "mirror fast", meaning avoiding your reflection at absolutely all costs. Apparently for some women, the solution to our culture's obsession with beauty is to actually go completely WITHOUT checking themselves out in a mirror.
I fully admit that sometimes I'm a little vain. I mean, I check myself in the mirror a LOT during any particular day. Sometimes I'm obsessing over a bad hair day, other times I'm carefully watching a soon-to-appear pimple and once in a while it's a day full of Why-did-I-wear-this-I-look-like-a-cow-what-was-I-thinking worry. Come on–don't tell me you've never had days like that!
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It might not seem that hard to avoid mirrors all day but these women are actually going all out to not see their own reflections. That means not only avoiding mirrors, but also store windows, iPhone screens–basically everything with a reflective surface! I can understand wanting to not obsessively look in a mirror like some of us (cough, me, cough) but avoiding store windows and iPhone screens all day, too? That's seems obsessive in it's own special way.
Maybe partly because I'm Latina, but there is just absolutely no way that I could do this. I mean, seriously, go without checking myself in the mirror ALL DAY? What if there's lipstick on my teeth? Wait a minute, how do you even put ON lipstick without a mirror? It sounds absolutely insane to me. However, there ARE some legitimate benefits of the "mirror fast", according to the New York Times: "Women on mirror fasts not only feel less critical of themselves, but are also freed up to concentrate on all kinds of other stuff like work."
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Well, it definitely wouldn't kill me to have more time to concentrate on other things… and also be less critical of myself. However, I don't know that I actually could handle a day without a mirror (unless it involved a tropical island getaway with a beach chair and a few margaritas), so I think I'd rather just take the advice of social worker and therapist Adrienne Ressler and focus more on being nicer to myself and "repeat a word of phrase that 'captures how you would like to feel in your body.'" That's something I can actually get on board with since, I don't neccesarily believe avoiding the mirrors and reflective surfaces completely is good for your psyche OR your looks!
Could you ever go on a "mirror fast"? Do you think we should avoid obsessing over our looks? Share with us in the comments below!
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