Rooms With No Mirrors

There are rooms in this world that have no mirrors.

Rooms where your face is unknown.

Where your angles and scars cannot be traced.

Where your eyes never meet themselves.

Rooms where the only thing you can see is everything else.

You enter these spaces, and something strange happens.

You begin to forget what you look like.

Not in the vain way of skin and symmetry.

But in the mysterious faces of identity.

You begin to ask yourself

Who am I when no one is looking?

Who am I when I cannot obsess my beauty?

Who am I when I cannot gloom over my ugliness?

Who am I when there is no reflection reminding me that I exist?

We live in a world of mirrors.

Literal ones. Digital ones.

The gaze of others has become our measurement.

We dress for it. Smile for it. Shape our stories to fit the lens.

But what happens when you are no longer seen?

Not because you are invisible,

but because the mirror has gone missing?

Do you still exist when there is no one to tell you that you do?

There are rooms in our lives that take away our mirrors.

The waiting seasons. The grieving seasons.

The lonely friendships. The silent mornings.

Most importantly,the seasons that will mold you.

Moments when no affirmation comes, and all you are left with is the echo of your own breathing.

It is in those rooms that you meet the most terrifying question

Can I still love myself without being witnessed?

You see, we have mistaken visibility for value.

We think we are real only when we are reflected.

But the soul is not found in the mirror.

The soul is found in the unseen.

In the things you whisper when no one is awake.

In the goodness you offer when no one will praise you.

In the tears you do not post, and the kindness you do not publicise.

The mirror is not always your friend.

It flatters or distorts.

It shows what is on the surface but is blind to what burns beneath the skin.

It cannot tell you about your patience.

It cannot measure your resilience.

It cannot recognize how many times you chose peace instead of retaliation.

It cannot see the wounds that taught you compassion.

It cannot see the immaculate goodness of your broken heart.

And so, I say

Bless the rooms with no mirrors.

They are not your punishment. They are your pilgrimage.

Because in the absence of a reflection

You are invited to remember who you are

From within.

Like the moon does not beg the ocean to see her glow

She simply shines, knowing the tide already knows her rhythm

You too must learn to exist

Without applause

Without angles

Without the mirror’s permission

And I know it is hard.

I know it is terrifying to be unseen.

But beloved,

You are not here to impress the glass

You are here to embody the light

There are days you will forget what your light looks like.

But you must trust that it is still there.

Like the sun behind a curtain.

Like a heartbeat in silence.

It does not vanish just because no one sees it.

Let this be your reminder

You are more than what the mirror shows

You are more than what people see

You are more than what social media says you are

You are more than the reflection you have rehearsed

You are the room

You are the breath

You are the light that fills the space

Even when no mirror returns it to you

Learn to see yourself without seeing

Learn to become familiar with your soul

Hold it gently

Cradle it kindly

And walk forward

Not because the mirror says you look good

But because your soul says you are true

And that is the real seeing.

~Muhsinah.