How I Escaped My Comfort Zone

After coming home from family vacation, I found myself struggling to be excited about the last two weeks of summer. Normally as a student I hold on to that precious chunk of time before school starts to catch up with friends or to cram in every activity on the "Summer To Do List" I make each year but never complete. But this year I'm in a different situation. With university coming up and the realization that a part time job may no longer be possible to juggle, stress has hit me hard.

It has already started raining here and the haze from nearby forest fires have made the skies grey and thick with smog. When my work shift is over it's pitch black outside and this is how I know fall is on its way. The sun doesn't shine through the ash, the days are shorter and so I begin to fall into the coziness and laziness of fall two weeks too early.

The second I got off the plane from my trip, reality hit me. My life is about to change soon at a new school. I will know no one there and so this was a time for first impressions and making connections. I felt like I needed something exciting to happen. Something to really take me out of my comfort zone before I got to school so that I felt confident in myself.

Later that day a friend of mine asked me if I was free and so I went over to unload all of the holiday excitement and the mutual nervousness for the upcoming fall semester. We were planning to lay low at home. Maybe grab a couple of snacks at the supermarket down the street and watch our favourite TV show.

Instead we dyed my hair bright pink.

I am someone who over thinks every possible consequence and outcome. I am the "mom" of my friend group and make sure that every single person is alive and well at social events. I don't want to be inconvenient to anyone and I don't want to be "obvious." If this makes sense then you'll understand I'm someone who would never, in a million years, dye my entire head to look like Lava Girl or Princess Bubblegum.

But something about the changes happening in my life and meeting people who knew nothing about me made me give in. This was a clean slate and would hopefully give me some excitement for the last few weeks of summer.

Immediately we got into the car and drove to the hair salon where we recklessly purchased enough hair dye to equate to half of my pay check. Yes, I could feel my wallet get lighter.

Pink was everywhere. The bath tub was covered in pink. The tiles of the bathroom floor were stained and so were the walls. The toilet bowl was somehow turned pink and so were all of the towels in the house. Hair brushes, t-shirts, and my bedroom pillow too.

I still don't understand why I agreed to something so impulsive, something I'd consider being risky. I guess I was so jet-lagged that I didn't even care. But I'm happy with my pink hair and I'm happy that I don't even care. I never thought twice about it and I think thats what I needed to get out of the "let's be careful about everything" mindset I was stuck in.

I think my friend and I bonded a lot more too since she's dyed my hair. Something about being stuck in a bleach-filled room for six hours and being forced to tell each other your life stories really connects people I think.

So anyway, that's the story of why I look like a flamingo, an identity crisis, and how I made a best friend. Pink is in my life now for a while I guess and I'm excited about my new look.

With lots of love,

Michaela