Mirrors and Self Image

Yesterday I read this amazing post from Julie @ The Mom Slant (formerly MotherGooseMouse, you really should go check out her new site) and it really got me thinking.

As an adult, I have never purchased, nor installed, a full length mirror. Unless it came with the apartment, I have never seemed to need to see all of me at once. Which may explain a little of how I got where I currently am. Well, maybe not, but you never know.

In my office building, in addition to the bathroom mirror that makes me look amazing, there is also a large bank of mirrors on the first floor. I don't go there very often, choosing to enter the building via skyway instead. Today though I found myself walking past the mirrors and taking a good look at myself. I realized that since the last time I paid any attention, a lot had changed.

I liked what I saw.

Other people may see the flabby tummy, the sagging boobs (though I hope I have a good enough bra they don't see that), the recovering stretch marks. I see the thirty pounds I lost. Five to ten pounds on someone with twenty to lose can seem like a lot, but it is hard to see when you have one hundred to lose. Thirty you can see.

My face is thinner, my neck more graceful again, I think I may have lost a chin (I hope). I see somebody worth investing in. I'm putting an effort in to my work clothes (hard when you need to be professional and still crawl under desks). It is time to care enough about how I look to be willing to look at myself in the mirror every morning. It is time to see when the clothes are getting baggy and I need to get new ones that fit better. It is time to see all of the chins go away. It is time to enjoy the gray hair I've earned. It is time to give a damn.

Now I just have to find somewhere to put it.