Day 15 - My Hair is Sticking Up!

Not looking in a mirror is not a big deal if you know that you look okay, but what about when you should have checked a mirror because your hair is sticking up? I decided to make that happen oday. I showered last night but not this morning, which mean that my hair is sticking up in the back right now! I was really doing pretty well all morning with the thought that my hair is probably sticking up. I went about my day and did all of my great work with adults and kids for about half of the day...then I accidentally saw myself in the reflection of a doorway window and confirmed my hair sticking up.

Seeing my hair sticking up in back completely changed my day. I immediately wanted to go wet down my hair, or I wanted to keep holding my hair down. Ultimately, this is the crux of the experirment. Am I too hung up on my physical looks? It is easy to say I am not when I look the way I think I should, but what about when my hair sticks up all day? It has taken some work, but I am focused on doing great things again and not worried about my hair. Do I need to make sure that my hair is messed up every day so that I can lose that idea of worrying about looks? It is so ingrained to my psyche. I say that looks don't matter, and I believe that my ideas and beliefs are bigger than my physical being, but it is hard to live that out in the real world.

I hope that through this experiment I will be able to show others the true difficulty of presenting the idea of looks are not the important thing, and that it is inside that is important.

Day 11 - How's my hair?

I am still not really tempted by mirrors, but I am still somewhat concerned about my self image. I find myself occasionally holding down the one spot on my head where hair has traditionally stood up or wondering if that one weird long hair on my ear is growing out. I want to just cut randomoly by ear to see if I can cut the random hair before it is noticeable.

My conclusion is that I have not really changed thus far. I am just concerned about my looks and not looking in a mirror. If I was really not concerned, I wouldn't think about my hair sticking up and whether or not I should throw on a hat before I head to the store. Is that even where I want to be? Do I want to be at a point where I don't care about the social norms or do I just want to take the emphasis off of my looks a bit? I am not sure yet. Hopefully, I find out in the next 17 days or so.

Day 9

For the most part I don't really even notice not looking in a mirror. I did have another presentation today. I dressed up and probably would have looked in the mirror to make sure everything was working well together. Ultimately, I think my socks didn't really go well with my pants, and I don't need to a mirror to figure that out so I probably don't care all that much about looks whether I have a mirror or not.

I have mentioned to a couple of students that I am not looking in a mirror this month because the subject of look has come up. They kind of think I am weird anyway so they are not really surprised, but I did get to bring up the idea that outside appearances don't really matter, and I am trying to prove that. It was an interesting beginning to a dialogue that I believe will resurface before the month is over.

Day 4 - How Kids See Mirrors

Mirrors are covered and things are well. I don’t even really think about looking in a mirror. I am beginning to see some interesting things. I noticed today that my three kids, all three and under, do not ever check themselves in the mirror. The mirror is not used often at all in fact, except maybe to make some funny faces. What a much better way to use a mirror. Mirrors are never used to determine self worth, look for defects, or to “fix” things. Mirrors are more often used in the Children’s Museum to purposely make us look silly.

Day 3 - Killing Hypocrisy

I teach 8^th grade English. 8^th grade is the epitome of fashion critiquing where a single hair sticking out of place can end a life. This hectic lifestyle is not exempt for teachers. I have been told that my eye brows need waxed, my shoes are from the 80s, and my pants are lame. A cut throat environment might not be the best place to try going sans mirrors; however, the students I care for each day are part of the reason I am blogging the experience. I want them to understand that I truly believe that the inside is more important than the outside. 8^th graders can smell hypocrisy a mile away. You can’t tell them not smoke if you smoke or to not judge other if you do. I want to be able to look them square in the eye and tell them that I for sure know that the outside appearance does not matter.

Day 2 - Presentation Day

Today, I have a presentation in front of many of my peers. I have a shirt and tie on that I assume match. I found out once I got to school that my tie was crooked. Other than this I didn’t receive much feedback and things went really well. My students performed well for the tours they give, and all of my interactions with fellow teachers seemed to be well received. So far the lack of mirrors is not holding me back.

 I wanted to touch on a little more on why I am without mirrors this month. What do we most often look for in the mirror? Outside of the sixteen year old boy getting ready for his first date, we rarely stand in front of the mirror and get ourselves excited and pumped up about what we see. Often, we are going to the mirror image that everyone sees every day to look for imperfections. Now granted, we are going to the mirror to fix that hair that is sticking up or the collar that is accidentally popped or to confirm that our outfit does in fact match. The mirror has become a place to look for the negative in our physical appearance. In my routine, that would mean I would start the day and end the day by looking for what is wrong with me. The hypocrisy of the whole system became clear not too long ago. I want to be defined by what the Bible tells me I am and not by what the world is conforming me to be. The hypothesis becomes this: Every time I look in the mirror I look for something to change so I conform to the world’s standards of physical appearance, so if I stop looking in the mirror and continue seeking for the way God sees me, I should be left at the end of the month with a better idea of how God sees me and thus a better understanding of my relationship with God. Let the experiment begin!

Day 1 - Let's Get This Started

Support in any endeavor is key to success. In my first day, I found that once again my wife would be my greatest support. Brandi has encouraged me in projects ranging from hand delivering free hot dogs in trailer parks to New Orleans mission trips on our anniversary. After dodging mirrors in the morning, I came home after work to find all of our mirrors covered with fantastic drawings from our three kids. Now instead of looking in the mirror and seeing myself, I see a swirly road, an all green rainbow, or a “we love daddy” quote.  I love my family.

PreFast Preparation

I have often fasted food, but I have never fasted mirrors, so I thought I should practice. I am a little geeky in that regard. I found out that the temptation to look in a mirror was not great, but one could easily find themselves accidentally looking in a mirror because it is so routine and mirrors are everywhere. I found that I am in front of a mirror when I brush my teeth, floss, or shave. When I use the half bathroom downstairs, there is a mirror you can’t help but look in. While I am driving to work, I found my self looking in the rear view mirror—just to see what I look like before I head in to work. Then at work, I used the restroom and was bombarded again with mirrors. At the end of the day, I see all of the same mirrors from my dresser to the restroom.  I think the hardest thing about not looking in mirrors is going to be accidentally running into myself face to face. I don’t consider myself vain, but I do apparently look in a lot of mirrors everyday.