Hairstyles and Body-Shaming

I am a girl who craves change. Not the kind of change that involves some major life adjustment or anything like that, but I need something new in my home, a new outfit, new accessories, SOMETHING! Probably my most favorite thing to change though, is my hair. I'm not afraid to try things when it comes to my hair. It grows back, ya know? I've never understood how people can have the same exact hairstyle for years. Not that I'm knocking it, I just get so bored seeing myself look the same all the time. So, as you may be figuring out, I'm in the mood for a hair change. After scouring Pinterest for weeks and just not quite finding anything that was really calling out to me, I stumbled upon a video for styling short hair and instantly knew it was the style I was looking for. I love when that happens! So, let me show you what I've got going on now...

Eh. I loved it for the past several months that I've had it this way, but now I'm just feeling bored. I need more funk. Now let me tell you a little something I have done in the past that is seriously not cool. Not healthy. Not right. I have, at times, not allowed myself to get a new hairstyle because I felt like I didn't deserve to get one until I lost some weight. I would play these stupid games with myself of "If I lose 5, 10, 15 pounds (whatever the magic number of the moment was), then I can get a new hairstyle." Now, don't get me wrong. I think it's awesome to reward yourself for your accomplishments. So, saying something like "Once I reach my goal of losing 10 pounds, I'm going to get myself a cute new hairstyle!" is awesome and perfectly fine, but feeling like you're not worthy of something cute until you lose some weight is downright unhealthy and just plain stupid. I would look online for hairstyle ideas and the pictures always seem to be of these ridiculously cute and "small" women. So, being insecure about my weight, I would think to myself that those hairstyles couldn't possibly look cute on me unless I lost some weight. How incredibly ridiculous. If you remember nothing else that I ever say, remember this...YOU deserve to feel cute, pretty, beautiful, strong, amazing, confident, etc. NO MATTER WHAT YOU WEIGH! EVERYONE does. I refuse to allow myself to not wear outfits I like (I'm a modest dresser, so it's not as though I have things hanging out where they shouldn't be). I have just as much a right to wear a skirt with my short, stumpy legs (and I'm not saying that to put myself down, they just are) as someone with long, slender legs. My body is just the thing my soul is walking around in and my soul is downright gorgeous, so I can dress this body in whatever makes me feel beautiful! Don't you dare not allow yourself that new outfit, those cute shoes, that lovely smelling perfume, etc. because you think your weight/body are somehow not worthy of them. You are worthy of so much more than all of that. When I saw this, it was as though whomever wrote it had stolen it right from my heart. What the world defines as pretty and beautiful means absolutely nothing. The Creator of your very soul and your very being designed you in His image and He is the most amazingly beautiful thing that exists, so you better darn well believe that you are amazingly beautiful too!

I cannot stress to you enough how long of a journey it has been to get me to where I am with my self-esteem and I have to be very conscious about not letting myself slip into the destructive thoughts of that I'm somehow less than the tall, gorgeous girl with the long legs and seemingly perfect figure. It's something that loves to taunt me and I have to stop the negative voices and remember who I am and Whom I belong to. That is such an amazingly freeing realization. Now, with all of that being said, I still love to switch up my look and give myself a fresh style every now and then and while I'm conscious about wanting to choose a hairstyle that compliments my face shape, I no longer decide whether or not to get a new hairstyle based on my weight. Remember that style I mentioned way back in the beginning of this post? Well, it just so happens to be the hairstyle of a stinkin' adorable gal named Amy who has herself a great little blog that I am so thankful I have found! Her blog is called A Cup Full of Sass and I think it perfectly describes her cute style! This is the video I found and completely fell in love with this style and the ease of doing it. Short styling time is what I loved so much about having short hair for all of the years that I did and it's strongly pulling me back to having short hair again. Isn't that easy and totally adorable?! So, I've definitely decided that that is my next style (that I am hopefully getting next week). The decision I would love some help in making is whether I should just keep my all-over dark color or add some highlights in there? I would love to hear what you think and would love for you to leave a comment letting me know whether you think I should add some color and if so, what kind? If this post has inspired you to make a hair change, I'd love to hear about that too! Please feel free to leave comments on anything about this post that maybe spoke to you or has you thinking. Thank you so much for taking the time to read some of my rambling thoughts!