I sit up in my bed every morning, wipe my eyes, then dangle my legs off my bed. It always takes a moment for my mind and body to catch up to the fact that it is time to wake up, especially when it is woken up by an alarm, rather than doing so itself. I walk to the bathroom and splash water in my face. After I finish drying it off with a towel I look into the mirror. I stand there a moment assessing the person I see. Naturally, I point out the blemishes on my face, the multitude of pimples, probably caused by stress, and all the other flaws I can find within the small area of my face. Physically speaking there will always be something that is highlighted by a mirror, but I found that it is not the physical surface things that a mirror illuminates that most frightens me; rather, the magnification of my internal doubts that are brought to the surface. The evil Queen in Snow White asked, "Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?" But for me it is more so, "mirror mirror hanging there whose this girl standing here?"
We, as people in this society (especially females), are constantly labeled and placed in categories that are meant to define who we are as a person. We are discriminated upon by race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and so forth as has always been in the world; however, the categorization of people goes beyond the main discriminatory factors we hear about in everyday life. Growing up we are judged based on our weight, height, hair color, clothing styles, and anything else that can separate us from everyone else in a negative connotation. Trying to discover who we are for ourselves is a permanent uphill battle. Around every corner is another societal judgement in the form of bullies, magazine covers, advertisements, and any other outlet able to reach us. Eventually, the nonstop harassment by society to be something eats away our self-esteem and forces us to conform out of a desire to have some form of identity.
It was not until I was in my twenties did I start to realize that the way I defined myself when I looked in that mirror every morning was not who I wanted to be. I had lost so much of myself in trying to be like everyone else, like the girls in the magazine, and like what the world wanted me to be, that scrapping all that away would leave me naked. That ideology of taking away all the parts of myself that were not authentic was frightening, but that was the only way that I could transform myself into a person I wanted to be. That was not until my twenties that I chiseled away society's molding of who they wanted me to be, to fathom how children, teens, and even people with less self-esteem than I had, are to be able to do such a thing is crazy. How does a child who is just learning multiplications also suppose to ensure to remain true to themselves.
We, as people in this society, must band together as individuals who are unafraid to be 100% themselves, and be role models for children to come. Mass media is dictating who we are in society, bullies are shaming others for materialistic reasons, and magazines are erasing what they deem imperfections in order to portray an unobtainable image.
Sure, I still wake up every morning and question the blemishes on my face, but I do not let them define me. I still ask myself who is that girl staring back at me in the mirror, but rather than having a quizzical look on my face as I begin to define myself in 50 different ways, I define myself the way I see myself. I define myself. No longer does society give me my definition of who I am. Yes, labels are still placed on my back and I am still chalked up into a category; however, I do not allow myself to live within those restrictions. We, as individuals, have the power to break the mold society has encompassed around us.
So, next time you are standing in front of a mirror ask yourself, "Mirror Mirror hanging there whose this person standing here?" Remember it is not how others define you, but how you define yourself.
