Dear Mirror,
You obtain the ability to crush me, make me feel like I am just wasted space in the universe. Every angle I turn you expose another inch of my body that I cringe in the sight of. You are the reason for too many of my tears. You choke me, suffocate me, drive me to insanity. Your eyes haunt me with the image of how I am supposed to look. Unattainable. It is not your fault society designed you this way, to judge and ridicule. It is hard to love myself in a world like this.
Maybe this is just the way I am. Maybe I will always break down in a panic when I eat one too many cookies or feel the urge to run five miles after every meal. Maybe I need to try harder to achieve a size 0 waist or a thigh gap. Maybe I should starve myself to lose five pounds.
Or maybe it is time I break free.
You do not own or defy me. You are just an object hanging on a wall and you are supposed to control my happiness? Well, the days of you causing me pain are over. I cut myself free of your strings, I am no longer your puppet.
I look at you and hate myself, but I am not the enemy. I know that now. It is society that did this to me. Humanity is wired to believe skinny is perfection. But, perfection does not exist. As much as we strive for it, want it, need it, it is unreachable. Yet, the reminder is always there.
Photos of models like twigs as they strut down a runway or an ad for a new diet supplement, it is like skinny is forced upon us. We cannot escape it. Then we stare at our reflections and hate what we see. We want to scream, cry, all for what?
To make ourselves sick in the bathroom when no one can hear. It is funny because you do not know why. The world does not even know why. Why society makes beautiful and skinny live hand and hand, or that our waists must be a size zero and our thighs must never touch. But I know that it is all a lie.
It is time to love myself. To love the skin I am given and embrace life with open arms. Forget your devious manipulations and walk away. It is time for confidence instead of shame, joy instead of pain. So mirror I bid you goodbye. Goodbye to your hurtful grasp and unforgiving hatred. You do not obtain the ability to crush me anymore. This is who I am. My waist is not a size zero and my stomach may jiggle when I run, but for the first time I do not care.
No longer will I fear you. It is time to redefine beauty because the truth is, there is beauty in everyone. It comes in very shape and size. Once the world learns this, a happier place it will be.
Now I look at you and smile, this is me and I am worth it.
Sincerely,
A girl who broke free
