Change yourself

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Perhaps it's because I'm getting close to the end of my undergraduate years, the start of the real world or maybe I'm just antsy, but for some reason I have needed change in my life.

Last week, I colored my hair. Red. Okay, the red actually came out slightly pink in my hair, it faded out pretty quickly and it was only in two small streaks. But still, for me, that's a big deal.

I'm the girl who rarely does anything that could be considered wild. I've never gotten any tattoos or odd piercings. I was never a party girl. I think the worst things I've ever really done involved my few car wrecks and perhaps staying out past curfew.

I'm not saying I want to change that much and become wild or crazy. But I needed something and I figured that coloring my hair was probably one of the least destructive choices.

What I actually found out, was that it was a lot of fun. Even though the location was one that was pretty hidden (I wanted it to be a surprise!), I still felt...different. More confident or something. I suppose that's because I was happy with my risk and I learned that I'm not as big of a chicken as I might have previously thought.

That's when I decided that change is something that we can choose and is sometimes necessary.

A lot of the times, we hear people talk about how change is good. However, those are often the same people dreading the changes when they are happening to them.

After thinking about all of this, I decided to write my editorial about changes in our lives. And about making our own changes. Like any writer, I hope that someone can see that and maybe realize that there are changes they need to make in their life. Maybe me having pink hair (even temporarily) would be enough to inspire someone to step out on a leap of faith and make a change.

Despite all the cliches, those "people" are right. Change is good.

And, it is necessary.

Sometimes we need to change things up in our lives. This is how we determine who we will be. This helps us be more prepared when changes are thrust upon us.

And this knowledge is why I think I'm going to color my hair blue next time, if I can find it.

I suppose that this is why I started this blog in the first place. I was needing change. And over the semester, I've been creating changes in more ways throughout my life. So, in a way, this is where it all started.

I know that this doesn't really have a lot to do with changing the world, but it could. If we realize how easy it is to change something about ourselves, say our hair color, then might we also realize how simple it would be to make a bigger change in our own life, say becoming more environmentally friendly?

And that could inspire our friends and neighbors to also try something new and make change. All of this could create a ripple effect. Simply because a person chose to try something new.