WHAT SHAVING MY HEAD CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT FEAR

I’ve been known to be “bold” and do things that makes ZERO sense to other people.

I’ve moved every 2 - 3 years living in New York City, Washington, D.C., Portland, OR, Boston, Massachusetts, back to my New Jersey hometown, and next up Southern California. I’ve quit my job without a plan TWICE. I’ve started my own online coaching business. This fall, I even purchased a ticket to Paris less than a week before getting there because I wanted to attend an event.

But I’d have to say, the boldest thing I’ve done yet was shave my head. Now I’m not talking part of my head, I’ve been there and done that. I’ve shaved the left side of my head, the right side of my head, both sides of my head, but on December 29, 2017, I shaved the whole enchilada. All of my hair GONE.

As a woman, it’s natural to be attached to my hair. Personally, I’ve tied it to my femininity and sex appeal. I’ve always been super attached to it. Even when I had a pixie cut. But after starting my own business and creating video content on a weekly if not daily basis I found the daily grind of doing my hair so that it was “video perfect” time consuming and frustrating. I even tested having less than the perfect hair on videos and let me tell you, it drove me nuts.

I started thinking about what it would be like to be able to wake up and have to do a minimal amount of work before I went on video. On a phone conversation with a friend, I shared how I wanted to try microblading my eyebrows and eyelash extensions as a means to cut time from my daily routine. Then all of a sudden I found myself saying, “The worst is doing my hair, I should shave it off.” My friend said, “you should, I bet it would look good on you”. The next thing I knew I was on Pinterest looking up photos of women who have buzzed their hair off and two days later I was telling my hairdresser that instead of our scheduled blow-dry appointment I wanted her to shave it all off.

“You want me to what?”, she said. Now keep in mind, deciding I wanted to do something new with my hair is not surprising to her. She’s shaved one side, both sides, dyed my hair blonde, cut it into a pixie, supported me when I went natural, the works. But I have to say, I shocked her on this one. “Are you sure?”, she asked. To which I replied, “yes, I decided two days ago and it still feels like a good decision to me”.

While I seemed confident in my answer, the truth is my mind was racing with “what if this looks terrible?”, “Can I really wear a hat all winter if I hate it?”, “Will guys still find me attractive?”, and so on. Next thing I knew the barber working in the station behind us said, “shave it right down the middle so there’s no turning back”, and before I knew it, chunks of my hair fell into my lap. There was no turning back.   

The truth about life is, we all have fears and doubts. When we want to start our own business, quit our jobs, and even cut our hair. There will be thoughts that feel like alarms screaming “WARNING, WARNING, THIS COULD END VERY BADLY”. It’s normal, a part of our brains don’t want us to experience pain in any way, shape, or form. But those thoughts keep us in a comfort zone. It keeps us doing things that are “okay” but aren’t freaking FANTASTIC. Shaving my head was one of the most freeing experiences of my life. Even more freeing than quitting my job or moving across the country. It reminded me that taking a risk in order to do something or have something you really want is totally worth it. Even if it doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to. Doing something you’re excited and passionate about in spite of fear has you telling your inner fradie cat that you are strong, that you are bold, and that you are UNSTOPPABLE. All it takes is taking one small step at a time. Or having someone give you a little shove or in my case shave your head down the middle.

So take a few minutes and ask yourself, what have you always wanted to do but have been too afraid to do? And what step can you take today towards making it happen? You can live a life you’re MADLY in love with. Trust me, it’s possible.

And for anyone who is curious, I freaking love my shaved head. I’ve always wanted to know what the shape of my head looked like, and to my surprise, I have a pretty nicely shaped head, in my opinion anyway.