The Hair Conundrum

I had a conundrum last week. The conundrum involved my hair (the worst conundrums do). You see, I had been wanting to chop off my mane for months, but when the time came to do the dirty deed it felt exactly like that: a dirty deed.

Do not be mistaken, either; I do not get attached to my hair. My hair mantra is "Have at it!" and I will proclaim this to any hairdresser at whatever cheap walk-in salon I decide to enter once I become bored of my current "do." For some reason this time was a bit different, which you probably gathered.

I felt as if my hairdo defined my personality.

On one hand, I was Rebeca. Rebeca has long brunette hair and is worldly, educated, and romantic. She is the epitome of a strong, independent woman.

On the other hand, I was Beca. Beca has short dark hair with straight across bangs. She is a quirky, hilarious, and fun.

Who did I want to be?

You see my awful conundrum now. This was not just a matter of what hairstyle I wanted, but what personality I wanted.

Lucky for me, I have a sister. She calmly reassured me that I could have one hairstyle (unless I considered a mullet, which I did not), but both personalities. What a novel idea!

I have found a bigger picture in this quarter life crisis (the moral of the story, if you will). You see, all of this made me think about stereotypes and people and desires and dreams. We all have them and we are all trying to figure out who we want to be.

We do daily introspective mental exercises in order to answer the question "Who am I?."

Do I want to be the hippedy-hipster who collects vinyl? or the farmer who collects Romeos?

Do I want to be mysterious or outgoing? Fly by the seat of my pants or have a planner in both hands?

Sometimes, I think we forget...

That we can be both.

Life is not black and white, and people aren't either.