Since Valentine’s Day just passed, a TikTok trend has been circulating where users write “a girl’s room is a reflection of the boy she loves.” This video typically includes photos of flowers, cards and photos that the user’s boyfriend gifted to them. But, VALLEY disagrees with this take –– as your room is rather a reflection of everything that you have ever loved. Sure, that can include the boy that you love too, but it also includes everyone and everything that you love.
Childhood’s Residue
The stuffed animal your parents gave you the day that you were born sits on your bed, worn out and grayed from years of love. Your baby blanket is folded up in a safe box in your closet that is covered in stickers and outlines of your name. Look at the wall next to your bed –– it’s covered in photos of you and your siblings in leaf piles, in Halloween costumes, in pigtails on the old playground in your backyard.
A picture of your whole family is framed sitting on your desk. You aren’t even sure when it was put there. Your mom probably framed it when you were too young to remember. As far as you know, it’s always been there.
Souvenirs From Your Teenage Years
Prom and homecoming boutonnieres, bouquets or corsages lay, dead, in your closet. Sparkly dust outlines the petals that have fallen over the years. Or maybe you pressed them under chemistry textbooks and hung them in a frame. The pictures of you and your friends in floor length dresses and tuxedos are pinned to your bulletin board.
There’s a box under your bed with all the notes and flowers from your ex. You’ve thrown away most of their stuff, but you kept a couple of things –– a reminder of your first love. Your first heartbreak. The first time you stitched yourself back together. Looking at those words now doesn’t hurt as much at 22 as it did at 16. Maybe you can even smile now.
The poster your friends made for you when you got into Penn State is still hung up on your wall above your desk. That “We Are Penn State And So Am I!” letter is tucked into the random papers in your drawers –– even though it was once your favorite artifact. The sound of it lingers all throughout your room. The thought of the next chapter was scary and exciting, and now it’s just another piece of who you are.
Collections From College
You’ve hung up new pictures on your cork board now –– ones featuring your freshman year roommate, your new best friends, your very first apartment. Your 21st birthday sign has joined your high school senior night posters in the back of your closet. The emptied perfume bottle that you used all of freshman year stands like a piece of decoration on your vanity.
College brought new purpose to your world. Now, instead of Jonas Brothers posters you have magazine cut-outs on your wall. Or perhaps your MCAT textbooks decorate your bedside table. Maybe stacks of books hide under your bed, full of literary folk and poetry.
Every Piece
The gold necklace your grandma gave you before she passed away, the trinkets that your aunt gives you every holiday, the Justice necklace that has your birthstone in the middle. Each and everything in your room has its own story, you just have to take the time to remember.
And yes, maybe a picture of your current partner is decorated in a frame standing on your dresser. But they do not make the whole room –– they are only part of everything that you love and have ever loved before.
What are your thoughts on this TikTok trend? Let us know by tagging @VALLEYMag on Instagram or X!
1 Comment