mirrors make things worse

I have decided to limit my use of mirrors. The only mirror I own right now is a compact mirror that came attached to a make-up bag I bought many years ago. There are two reasons why I have not purchased a larger mirror. First is the inconvenience of getting a mirror. I need to, without breaking it, get the mirror back to my house either by carrying it 3 km while walking or by hiring a boda-boda (a public transportation means in the form of a motor cycle that PCVs are not allowed to ride) to bring it back to my home without me there. Second, since coming to country I have become accustomed to not having a mirror and I do not feel a need to have a mirror. It has made my morning routine faster and even made me feel better about myself. This brings me into my main point: Mirrors make things worse.

Why mirrors are the worst:

1.     Breaking a mirror will cause you 7 years of bad luck (and make a terrible mess)

2.     Bloody Mary, and other creepy ghost stories 

3.     Supposedly, you are much more likely to not admire yourself when you look into a mirror

4.     Looking in a mirror increases stress and can make you more anxious 

5.     Mirrors are time consuming, try to get ready without a mirror and compare (if you want to apply makeup, use a small compact mirror). You spend more time getting ready, constantly changing, and reapplying stuff in order for you to "look your best" with a mirror there

Benefits of not looking into mirrors:

You can act by how you feel and not by how you look. You can look at yourself in real time and admire how you hair feels and how your face feels and how your shirt matches your boots. You don’t have to critique every little things that you may see is wrong.

Instead of worrying how you look, you focus on how you feel and you can also focus on the better things that are around you. If you saw yourself in a mirror and a minor detail of your outfit was off as you rushed out the door, you may be spending time adjusting or checking in on it instead of enjoying the world around you. You may miss important things in a meeting or even the beautiful views around.

So people say that you are more anxious if you look in mirrors, well if you don’t then aren’t you going to be less anxious?! I think so. If you are less anxious and kinder to yourself, you can also be kinder to those around you!
You realize that there is more to yourself than your looks. Your laugh. Your kindness. Your humor. There is more to you than what is in that mirror—and that is what is important! 

There is no way that someone can tell that you own a mirror or not. In my group of site mates, some of us own a mirror and others do not but you would not be able to tell by looking at our appearances.