Tasting Freedom Again

There are numerous ways of how freedom can feel like. Each one of us would have been in different situations that gave us a sense of freedom. Could be as insignificant as getting off of a crowded bus or a traffic jam; to something significant like being fortunate to study further or relieved of an unwanted relationship.

I rejoice freedom every now and then; when I sit watching horizon of an endless ocean or a night sky or mountains or while am running or simply meditating. But this time I am feeling light and free due to my haircut.

I have seen that a haircut or a makeover kind of acts as stress buster. I have played with my hairstyle more than often and written about how I felt afterwards too; but this time I just took a bold step. I had long straight hair till my hip; and I went straight to a boycut.

Me few months before this day

I thought, it doesn't matter if it suits me or not, I will get it done. I wasn't confident that I would like it, but I wanted to get it done anyway. So I made up my mind and went in to a Salon in the evening, had couple of Anne Hathway's pictures on my phone (no one does justice to boycut/pixie cut like she does).

Showed it to Jenn from Terra Salon. And there, she chopped my hair off for length below my shoulder and started trimming it.

Jenn working her magic on my hair

When she was done styling it and I saw myself in the mirror, I was elated. I loved it. It was a different thing if I dint like it and was trying to pull it off anyway. But this time, I loved it so much that I promised myself to keep this style on for quite sometime to come.

In addition to feeling light, refreshed and different; I liked the freedom I got with this.

I have been in and out of hospitals for last one month; and was going in for a surgery again next week. I badly needed to revive myself. Hospitals, meds, IVs, syringes..they all get to you. I tried to keep myself sane doing painting, sketching, reading etc... I had a wishlist of boycut for quite sometime now; so I thought, if I get it done now, it will help me manage myself post surgery as well.

And trust me it did.

Head shower is done in 5 mins as opposed to 15 mins; hair drying took just 3 mins as compared to good 10 mins with blow dryer or 30 mins without it; hair styling took at max 3 mins (just using some styling gel to set the hair) compared to about 10 mins with straighteners before. So all in all, on a daily basis, it saves me about 50 mins. That's an hour of my life saved every day that I can use else where.

While I sleep, I don't have to worry about neatly braiding my hair. In hospital, I had one less thing to worry or bother about while on bed.

I drove with windows rolled down, and I enjoyed the wind brushing my face and neck. The best part was when I got off the car, all I had to do was brush my hand through my hair and it was set like nothing happened. Before even if I had let the windows open for 2 mins, by the time I reached office it would feel like I was returning from a construction site; my hair frizzy and all over the place.

It's a sense of freedom that let my spirits high. In over a month of my gala time with hospitals, this was the first time I was happy; I had a big smile on my face and was gladly showing off my hairstyle to my family and friends over video calls.

It not only distracted me from my struggling routine; but it did so in style. And well, Style matters. It boosts your confidence in a way you can neither foresee nor explain.

Dated - 24th May 2018

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