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| http://www.ayearwithoutmirrors.com/ |
Throughout my teens and early twenties I have, like nearly everyone I know, struggled with body image. In fact, body image seemed to be the zeitgeist of girl power during my formative years. Therefore, I have always known that I'm supposed to have "good" body image, that boys prefer girls with "good" body image, and that those with "good" body image are happier and generally more successful people. All of these arguments, despite their underlying positivity, confused and oversimplified a much more complex issue and, by and large, did very little to equip me for "bad" body image days.
Left to suss out the particulars for myself, I have come to accept the fluctuations in my self-perception, to sort of ride it out when it comes to (Here is yet another go to phrase of my youth:) self-esteem. I hadn't realized how much I needed a positive body image boost until I happened upon Mirror, Mirror... OFF the Wall, a blog kept by twenty-something cultural sociologist Kjerstin Gruys about her year-long hiatus from mirrors.
Overwhelmed with wedding planning and the bridezilla self-obsession the wedding industry promotes, Kjerstin chose to eschew her own image and ground herself in less tangible, more meaningful aspects of her life: "By taking some emphasis OFF of how I look, I can focus more clearly on all of the other things that make me, uniquely, me." Kjerstin chronicles this project from its inception through to its aftermath, including her wedding day sans mirrors, at http://www.ayearwithoutmirrors.com.
Reading through the blog has left me feeling recharged, somehow. It has been really encouraging and even instructive to follow along as Kjerstin proactively navigates her own body image issues. Instead of simply knowing that "bad" body image is bad, I now feel like I have a practical guide to get me thinking and feeling. And after reading Mirror, Mirror... OFF the Wall, I'm feeling good.
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