Life Without Dreads

If you told me 6 years ago the next time I would get a haircut would be in my kitchen by 20 different people I wouldn’t have believed you. July 5th 2014 I sat in my kitchen with my closest friends and family as they as they all cut my hair one dread at a time. I knew this moment was going to come with the release of my book, so I had months to emotionally prepare myself. People are scared of change, but not me; I welcome it with open arms. Embrace it as if it’s my own. The beauty about change is if you don’t like it… you can keep changing.
Earlier that week I started prepping for the change. I bought myself a yoga mat, work out gloves, iPod headphones, Beats by Dre wireless boom box, new clothes, hats, weight gainer, pre-workout, protein, and Rosetta Stone. It’s been said that it takes a month to form a habit. I felt with this drastic change in my life of cutting my dreads, turning 25, and releasing ’Socially Accepted’ I could become what I always wanted to become; the best version of myself possible.
In order to form these habits, I couldn’t expect for it to happen overnight. So the week before I quit promoting, I created a healthy sleep schedule, started Duolingo + Rosetta Stone, eating healthy, playing piano and working out regularly. The biggest thing for me was quitting the nightlife because then I could wake up early. Truth is, someone can give you all the advice in the world about being productive, but none of it compares to the gem I am going to give you now. The best way to be productive is to wake up early.
With this new change, I wanted to create meaning behind everything. So, I created a new vision board along with a bucket list. The vision board was very personal, but the bucket list I grabbed from a lot of the ideas I found on the internet. One of the things I found for my bucket list was to write a letter for myself in 10 years. I saw that and I did one better, I decided to record a video for myself in 10 years. So I sat in my room alone, just a camera and me. The last video I would ever have of myself with dreads. Telling the future me who was hopefully retired, married and happy how excited I am for this change. What is going on with my life, what projects I’m looking forward too, the publishing of Socially Accepted, my family, my friends, my hopes, and even my dreams. That video itself made this transition so much easier.
So, now to the moment of truth as each slice with the scissor takes a part of me away. I tried to lighten up the moment and have my friends guess how many dreads are on my head. The guesses ranged from 60 to 150. My friend Jenny got closest (besides me of course) with 80. The correct guess was 82. She won the prize of keeping a dread; she didn’t take it. We started with cutting the dreads on the back of my head so I could look normal. Once we started cutting the ones on the sides and front things got emotional. One of my friends started crying, which then started a chain reaction. The moment I had been waiting so long for had finally come and the first thing that came to my mind when I saw myself hairless for the first time in the mirror was “I look like I’m 12 years old.”
I thanked everyone for coming, took a picture holding my dreads, posted it on social media with the hash tag #NewBeginnings, and got myself a real haircut. After I got my haircut, I remembered the ride home, holding my head out the window like a dog on a joy ride, feeling every piece of wind hitting my scalp for the first time in half a decade. It was calming. I arrived home to change and continue celebrating my birthday. I showed up a little later than usual. I wore an American flag scarf over my hat to replace my dreads because I couldn’t get used to being hairless. I arrived to the table with everyone wishing me a happy birthday but none realizing what I had done. My friend saw my media post and wanted to see my new haircut. The next thing that happened made the last 6 years all worth it. I removed the scarf and lifted up the hat. Screams and cheers exploded from everyone around me and it felt as if every other person would then congratulate me on the book and tell me how proud they were of me. It made me very excited for the future.
Without change we’d all be at a standstill. Yes, sometimes bad things happen, but it’s through those dark times that we learn our most valuable lessons. Every experience in life crafts us to be the person we are today. So, how is life without the dreads? Well, I can now take a quick shower first thing in the morning and before bed (as opposed to my hour long showers), I can drive with my windows down and without hesitation jump off a boat into the water or go to the beach without the fear of sand getting in my hair. I don’t even have to worry about my hair all in the face of my partner during playtime. It feels as if I’ve been given a second chance; reborn again. I have my priorities aligned, along with my goals and dreams. My bucket list isn’t filled with things that would make me happy, but things that would excite me. My last gem to you would be if you want something, choose excitement over happiness. If you fail finding happiness you end up with sorrow. If you fail finding excitement, you have an adventure. Excitement is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the end-all cure-all.