Do you ever feel like if you looked in the mirror you wouldn't recognize the person looking back at you?

I have been that person one time in my life and it took outside people to kick my ass into gear to stop what I was doing, leave where I was and return to what grounds me and allows me to thrive. Love.

As whimsical as the the question is, I have to say that I have actually felt that way. It takes an awful lot to change someone in a very short time, but there’s a short list of things in life that’ll do it. The best thing is to realize that its all transient.

only when i first wake up.
but more seriously, yes. i miss being the old me.

Only when I have a beard for a while and then shave it off.

when I dyed my hair blonde:D
Took awhile to get use to..Hey that’ me.

These days, when I look in the mirror I see my mother. Acck! When did I turn into my mother?!

The entire time I was married, I felt like that. I kept thinking, “What happened to Essie? Where did she go?” I lost my creativity, my sense of wonder at life… I became this person my ex-husband wanted me to be. A good little wife who kept her effing mouth shut. After I left him, it took me almost a year, but I got my old, quirky, borderline weird self back. I feel normal again. My friends also tell me they’re glad I’m “back”.

When you have that feeling, obviously, it isn’t good. I would look at your situation and see what you can do to change it. Are you trying to please someone else? Are you making decisions that aren’t well thought out? What is causing you to feel disconnected from yourself?

You can work through this and we’re here for you. :)

@essieness thank you :)

@adreamofautumn :)

I seem to be changing all the time. In the past year, I’ve done things that I never thought I would or could. I’m not proud of all of it, but I am who I am & I still love myself. I can still get up in the morning & look myself square in the eye.

I Actually used to look in the mirror as a child and think who are you…no…but i mean really…. who are YOU???? I think it’s called self-displacement theoy or something… its a syndrome or something when a person is going through a traumatic time… I’ll look it up later… must dash

As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t exorcise my demons out of that pale visage looking back at me from the mirror. During my tribulations of the stare down, my life passed before my eyes and it was only moderately interesting causing me to question my very existence. Looking in the mirror and not seeing any reflection was frightening in and of itself, the few times that happened.

I attempted to find meaning or answers in that face in the glass. Instead, I ended up re-inventing myself which, in essence, was worse than before because now I was my own best enemy. I realized that with a stigma such as this, my chances for being popular were now zero and I was destined to hang around in big crowds of one.

@Bluefreedom did you just write that or quote that?
Either way…I like it.

@adreamofautumn. I actually made the whole thing up. I was having a Zen moment. =)

Yes, I spent my childhood being chased by a grandmother holding a spoon and crying “you’ll starve to death” and my parents would even give me chocolates trying to make me gain some weight. And I wasn’t all that skinny come to think of it, just thin.

Now I’m several kilos overweight and can’t seem to lose them. Whenever I notice that, I just can’t believe it. I am pretty athletic and healthy overall, so I feel like a thin guy in a fatsuit.

Serious answer: I feel like right now I am more me than I have been in years. Work is not an obsession. Friends and conversation is easy. Happiness is all around.

Semi-Serious answer: I hope so because I’m trying to lose some weight.

My problem is that most times I do.

Every goddam time. Mostly i have a shiver and a premonition that i’ll see some horribly twisted version of myself ala “portrait of Dorian Gray”. My subconscious likes to torture me like that.