I continue to travel down the road on the never-ending journey to my authentic self – forever peeling the layers of the onion towards my core nature. Most of you know me with somewhat wild shoulder-length auburn curls. Last week, I made the decision to cut it short. I made a bigger decision the week before – I have stopped colouring it. My silver roots are nearly an inch long beneath the darker tips. I am willing to step ever deeper into what Mother Nature has handed to me.
What I have found the most interesting is the number of people that have commented that they find it “brave” to take this stance and accept the effects of aging. If there is bravery here, perhaps it is in the willingness to risk being seen as less desireable without my longer, darker curls. Adam Carolla talks about women with short haircuts and how to each other’s faces, women will compliment each other. However, on the inside, they’re thinking about how women with short hair just means there’s less competition…
I examined my feelings about that and realized that if a man would find my attractiveness to reside in my hair, he is probably not the kind of guy I’m looking for. And then I thought that might be a knee-jerk, self-protective response. I sat quietly with that thought for a moment, breathed into it and realized I don’t have certainty around how I will feel if I have to face rejection, but I still want to make the change to the hair colour that is currently being provided to me by Mother Nature. If I can’t be my ahthentic self, the price of admission into that relationship may be too high.
I believe that my silver hair is representative of the journey I have taken to get where I am – and a tribute to my authenticity. I notice also that I refer to my haircolour as silver rather than the less dramatic term “grey”. And I reserve the right to revisit this decision if it feels different to me and more like a detour than the direct route on the road to my authenticity.