I am not my hair...

I never knew so many people cared about what I did/do to my hair, until I recently made the decision to cut my hair and go natural. You would have thought I said I was going to have a sex change or something by the way people were reacting. I got a lot of "Are you SURE? and "Why do you want to do this to yourself?" and even the occasional "Are you depressed or something?" LoL. I'm like.. Calm down people. It's just hair. It grows back. The conclusion that I came to is that most of these people were afraid. They were either afraid of what I would look like, afraid of how other people would react to this change, or afraid that the change is brought on by some emotional breakdown. And while I appreciate their concern, I've come to a point in my life where I'm not operating out of my own fear. And if I ain't operating out of my OWN fear, I fa sho ain't operating out of anyone else's. You feel me?

So against popular opinion, I did what my heart was telling me to do, for me. It's an amazing feeling. It turned out cute... but even if it hadn't, I still would have been satisfied because it was never about the appearance of it. It's more about me taking control over the things in my life that I can control and making a choice ...a conscious decision to be happy in those areas no matter what anyone has to say about it. I never knew that it would be such a problem for people. I never knew that it would invoke such emotion on the part of people I love. I never knew that MY decision to cut MY hair and begin the journey to locs would call into question my emotional stability, my sexuality, and even my faith...in some cases.

You see what fear will do to you? Fear will make you take someone you KNOW very well and begin to question the very things that you have always known to be their character just because they alter their physical appearance a little. It saddens me that so many people I love and trust chose fear, 1st. Don't get me wrong... the important people were supportive from the start. The important people know that no matter what I do to my hair, the things that they have come to know and love about Mikki, will always stay in tact. And the changes I make to my outer appearance are merely a reflection of the growth and maturation happening on the inside and more importantly... they know that Mikki is still essentially, Mikki.

Don't let other people's fear stop you from doing what's in your heart. Be happy being you, because at the end of the day, only you can make YOU happy.

That's my word.... and I'm out. Be blessed :))