As large women we often have a hard time 
facing the world.  Is it any surprise when most
of us have a hard time facing ourselves in 
the mirror?

    If you are like me there will have been 
times in your life when you stopped looking 
at yourself.

    Oh you brushed your hair and maybe even 
put on make-up.  You might have checked your 
hemline or made sure that you couldn’t see 
your bra strap through your shirt .  But did 
you really see yourself?

    For years all I saw was a body, I wouldn’t 
even think of it as MY body.  I hated to shop 
because I would see my whole body in the mirror 
in the dressing room.   Once years ago my 
self-hatred lead me to hit my bathroom mirror 
with my hand and broke it.  For 3 ½  years my 
bathroom mirror has been a 10 by 5 strip.  

    As I began to learn to love myself and my body, 
as I learned to see myself as beautiful, I 
realized that I still didn’t want to see myself, 
dressed or undressed.  I was standing in a 
dressing room at Lane Bryant when I decided 
that I had to face myself and my body.  As I 
looked at myself I came to the conclusion 
that I had to face this, face my body.

    Recently I purchased at auction the large 
mirror you can see in this photo.  I stood 
in front of it with my camera and took these 
photos. (which unfortunately didn’t scan well)  
Taking them was easy.  Looking at them and 
carrying them around was hard.  Now I am 
taking another step towards self-acceptance,  
I am placing it on the net. 
 
 

    I hope that by seeing what I did will make 
it easier for other women to face their bodies.
    This isn't sexual for me.  I am not looking 
for men to tell me that they like my body, 
because in the long run all that matters 
is how I feel about my body