I terribly dislike going to the hairdresser. With my skinny insignificant hair, there’s no great makeover I could ever expect. However, to avoid the sensation of neglecting myself, I go.

Once there, I’m stuck in front of a huge mirror in a highly lit room. I feel so out of context that the me I see in the mirror doesn’t feel like me at all. To evade my own gaze, I look outside, out the huge glass wall of a window. There I find relief—a man walking his dog, a woman animatedly speaking on her cell phone, a caretaker walking with an elderly man.

Looking at others is an easy way to avoid looking at the self.