Looking-in-the-Mirror Affirmations

Don't look at yourself too closely...that's my new start for today.  Those magnifying mirrors are DANGEROUS!  I've been battling a cauliflower nose of peri-menopausal cluster pimples for several months now, and my pores are like lunar craters.

My adorable sister and her adoring
niece (my daughter) applying
makeup together

There are many beauty products on the market these days to reduce spots, to give your skin a sheen of luminosity (hopefully not one of grease), and to make one appear as flawless as it is possible to be without photoshop or the witchcraftery of Kim Kardashian's private makeup artist.

My new start actually doesn't have anything to do with spackling on more makeup (though I am on the lookout for a good primer), nor do I plan on eschewing mirrors, other than the magnifying kind; rather, my resolution is to look in the mirror and respond with kindness and grace.  To be sure, people are not on the their mobile phones giddily discussing my pores or speculating on my hyper-pigmentation nor are they all atwitter over my summer weight gain.  Pretty much guaranteed, not a soul has given my appearance a second thought but me.  (And sadly, I've given it a whole lot more than just a second thought.)

I'm being gentler on myself these days, though.  My new M.O. is not to linger in front of the mirror but to give myself a quick glance to make sure nothing is askance, give myself a big ole smile, and tell myself how lovely I am, inside and out.

I'm good enough.  I'm cute enough.  And gosh darn it, people like me.