Bravery

Last week I pretty much cut all my hair off. Well okay, I didn't cut it, a trained professional did, but it's cut nonetheless. It used to be down to about the middle of my back. Now it's more the length of Ellen's, to use an example you might relate to.

The thing that has surprised me most about the comments I've received is that I am "so brave."

So I looked up "brave" in the dictionary and it means "showing courage." And "courage" is "the ability to conquer fear or despair."

Brave?

I didn't feel any fear about cutting my hair. My only despair was that I couldn't get it chopped sooner than I did. It was something I wanted to do and something I was ready to do. I'm not super girlie (shocking, I know), so I'm not really attached to my hair. My philosophy is that it will grow back. No worries. But I know other girls who would rather lose a limb than their hair.

It got me thinking. I guess BRAVE is like good, evil, fun, and boring: it's a point of view.

From my perspective, what I did was not brave. I hadn't considered a haircut from any other angle. From someone else's perspective, they can't imagine doing what I did.

So then I started thinking on a larger scale. Regardless of where you're standing in your life, I say there's a certain amount of bravery in every life. Sometimes it takes courage to cut off your hair. Sometimes it takes courage to take a job interview. Sometimes it takes courage to be who you are. Sometimes it takes courage to get out of bed in the morning.

Just because it's easy and requires little courage for me doesn't mean it's easy for someone else.

So here's to you, whoever you are, because I know you are brave and strong. You are courageous because you live.