Hair

So it's Spring...well, at least according to the calendar it is. So that means that around this time I'm itching to shed my winter hair for a more springish 'do. I've never been a fan of me and short hair. I don't think I have the right face shape for the cute short cuts. I've been keeping my hair a little below shoulder length at its shortest, and it grows and gets longish-ugly after about three months. But lately I've really been frustrated with my lack of style-change--a few inches separates my shortest and longest range.
Color is a different matter--love all of them and am willing to do whatever. I actually loved my color, but for change's sake I need to mix it up. That way my dark color is missed and re-appreciated when I go back to it in the Fall. Color can always be changed, but cuts take a little longer to grow out if that's your current passion.
Here is a picture of me, yesterday, and I have to say for the record I was actually having a decent hair day (hard to come by as of late).

That being said, I have been feeling rather adventurous and in much need of a bigger change than my 'usual'. Andrew is always pushing me to do something 'edgy'. If it was him, he'd put a streak of purple in my hair and give it razory edges that flip out everywhere. However, since I'm the one who actually has to do it, I usually settle for a little more low-maintenance style. (Realistically my hair is often pulled back) But, getting back to my point, I was in need of something to spice things up. I had an idea of a cute cut which I pictured looking pretty decent on me. I knew it'd be rather short--shorter than I've ever been, and I wanted to go blonde. Seeing as my current hair was rather dark, my stylist lifted the color as much as possible but said I'd have to process it more and more to get a really blonde color, so rather than go through a rather rigorous and damaging regimen I opted for the once-lifted color. I actually am liking the color--it's different and lighter and more springish--my main purpose. (Next time it'll go much blonder seeing as it's already been considerably lightened)
However, the cut was a little more drastic than I saw in my mind's eye. See below. I don't hate it--i really don't, but I am reminded why I don't like short hair. It looks so much better on other people. I love my stylist, and she actually did exactly what I told her. There was another stylist who had this same cut and looked darling, so I referred to her as a model. (sidenote: It doesn't matter how cute it looks on someone else, it will look different on you!)

All in all, it's a lesson that I could only have learned by actually trying it out. I'm proud to be adventurous in some ways. It's one area that is pretty easily fixed, and since I'm not so willingly brave in other areas and rather resist change in many areas of my life, I consider it a feat that at least my hair can be a baby step towards trying new things and helping my comfort zone stretch at the same time. Plus, when we're too comfortable with life (including hair), it's almost as if we've resigned ourselves to stagnate, or dare I say fester, in a pool of our own mediocrity. Sitting too long in 'comfort' hastens a loss of motivation to progress and change, and we perhaps miss out on an EXPERIENCE which we'll only have if we're but willing to TRY. This is one of my bigger weaknesses--allowing myself to stay comfortably in my little zone, where I know it's relatively easy and safe. I compare it to exercise.

In physical fitness, our physical bodies are designed to adapt and respond, growing accustomed to whatever physical demands we place on them. For example, if you strive to be able to run three miles a day at a 5 mph pace there will come a point where your body will reach a plateau, a state when your body has become entirely accustomed to that particular activity and you move with ease. It will only stay comfortably easy if you continue to run that same regimen each day. Our spiritual lives are the same way. We essentially have three choices-- we can continue to do the same old thing and remain at our current fitness level, stop running at all and lose what we had gained OR push ourselves harder to run faster and/or longer. In my life, I find myself sticking with the 'usual run'. And at times when I want a 'rest', I slowly lose the fitness level I had already attained, backtracking and having to re-do or re-learn things I had already done. It's very frustrating and not very satisfying at all.

Thus, being too comfortable defeats the purpose of what we need to be doing in this life--stretching ourselves beyond our limits (or what we self-set as our limits), progressing, moving, changing and allowing ourselves to LEARN (even if the outcome is less than desirable). It's the learning and experience that makes us who we are, not necessarily all our accomplishments and positive outcomes.
So I'll take the desire to change when it's there, (whether it's hair or something else) and count my blessings that I have the opportunity to discover new territory....and maybe discover something about myself that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to find.

(...who'd have thought I turn this 'before' and 'after' hair post into a life lesson? Because that really wasn't my original intention...)