Do you ever have those days when you're just feeling 'blah'?
Like nothing is really wrong, you just don't feel like things are right? Sometimes I feel like I have those days all the time. I'm not really sad or upset; I just feel restless, like I need a change. Well this past Sunday happened to be one of those days. In all honesty, it was a great day; I just wasn't excited. In my misery, I decided to do something about it. I made the horrible decision to... cut my own bangs. (Mistake #1)
It was the perfect change! It could change up my look just enough to give me a fresh outlook on my life, without being too dramatic. (For the boys reading this: Yes, changing our hair really can refresh the way we look at things.) I was so excited. Without hesitation I grabbed the craft scissors from the kitchen drawer (Mistake #2) and headed off to my bathroom. I grabbed a comb, the trashcan, and the scissors and began chopping away. I only cut a little at first; then I realized it wasn't even. So I cut a little more...and a little more...and a little more. (Mistakes #3, 4, &5). Before I knew it, I had bangs at three different levels, and they were doing anything but laying flat.
Cue panic. Call Mom.
I ran to the living room half laughing/ half trying not to cry. I was trying to convince myself it didn't look as bad as I thought it did and that my mom could fix it. When I turned the corner into the living room to show her, her mouth dropped open. Then, before I could say anything, she was doubled over in laughter. Not even giggling. I'm talking, arms around stomach, leaned over, gasping for air laughter. Between gasps for air, she tried to ask me what in the world had driven me to cut my bangs. At this point I realized, I had no real answer. Then I began to laugh, too.
For the next hour, Mom and I stood in my bathroom trying to salvage my new haircut. It took us so long, because we couldn't hold still for laughing. We never could get my bangs quite right, so we finally gave up and called the hairdresser. It was silly and ridiculous and probably the most fun I had my whole weekend at home. My giant mistake turned into a memory that I will cherish forever.
Later that night, as we laid on the couch watching a movie, I realized that, even though that had NOT gone as planned, I felt happier than I had most of the weekend. I felt as happy as I should have been feeling all weekend. Then I realized that maybe life is a little bit like that too.
The older I get the more I realize that life has a funny way of never going the way we plan. Whether a relationship we thought we would be in forever ended, the person who was never supposed to let us down did, we didn't get the job that we always thought we would, or maybe we just got a really bad haircut - it is not the end of the world. Real life is messy and difficult and frustrating, but we have a choice to make. We can choose to panic, get mad, and give up, or we can laugh, get motivated, and give it another try. We can choose to laugh at our mistakes. We can choose to be thankful for the experience. We can choose to recognize that, even though life has a funny way of never going as planned, it also has a way of placing us exactly where we were meant to be all along.
Unfortunately, we'll probably still have days when we're just feeling 'blah', but that's okay. Those days make us aware of when we need to make a change in our lives. The good news is we don't have to be scared of the change. When we trust that our life has a plan, we know that no matter what happens, everything will be okay.
Trust that your life has a plan. Learn to laugh at your mistakes, and be grateful for the moment in time that you were blessed with. It may just turn out to be one that you'll value forever. Stay happy, my friends.
