How to Avoid Mirrors for a Week and Build Your Confidence

More specifically, how I did this and got a little better at accepting myself   

By Emma Chekroun

My whole life I have struggled with low self esteem. While there is no way to instantly become confident, this is an experiment I accidentally started in quarantine after changing my hair, hating it, and deciding the easiest thing was to just not look at myself. For about 10 days, I avoided my reflection, covering mirrors and avoiding reflective surfaces. Slowly I started peeling back the covers and found myself shockingly neutral, and feeling—well—less disgusting. Here’s how I did it. 

Step 1: Plan on dying your hair pink for months, do it, but then get locked inside because of COVID-19. Have a break down over the fact that you don’t look like yourself anymore. 

Step 2: Have a supportive and equally insecure boyfriend put a fitted sheet over the bathroom mirror so the two of you stop obsessing over your flaws. 

Step 3: Avoid turning on your camera in Zoom meetings at all costs. If anyone asks just say you have internet issues.  

Step 4: When friends FaceTime, point the camera up at the ceiling, but stay on because you miss your friends’ faces. Thankfully, they understand your struggle and allow you to stay off camera without too much chastising. 

Step 5: Slowly start peeling back the bed sheet cover on the mirror to check on your progress fading your pink hair. 

Step 6: Take the bed sheet off the mirror because you realize you genuinely miss your own face. 

Step 7: Look yourself in the mirror and realize you don’t look as bad as you thought. 

Step 8: Occasionally do your hair and makeup to feel cute, but still regularly show up to Zoom meetings, camera on, looking somewhat homeless in baggy clothes with no makeup. 

Step 9: This is the most important step. Still have bad days where you just need to turn the camera off but understand you are human and deserve to be appreciated and seen—even on bad days.