Are You Impulsive?

 

 I am willing to bet that most women, with perhaps the exception of lesbians or really old ladies, who have short hair are probably impulsive.  I get a lot of "my husband would die if I cut my hair that short," or "it looks cute on you but I don't think I would ever be brave enough to do it." I was once even asked, "Do you ever get propositioned by other women?" I have realized my short hair has nothing to do with bravery or an act of defiance against my husband. I cut it on an impulse.  I wasn't thinking about my husband or bravery or feminism or lesbians or old people.  I just thought to myself at 2PM, nine years ago that it would make my life easier if I had a lot less hair and at 2:15 I was at the Hair Cuttery chopping it off.  I liked it, but being impulsive doesn't always work out that way.  Like last year when Scott was in Panama and I had to go grocery shopping but instead I bought a new car without his knowledge. That might have been a little too impulsive. It is one of those character flaws that I have to make a conscious effort to work on each day.  It is something that gets me in trouble all the time.  It causes me to say too much, spend too much,  eat too much, etc. People who don't know me very well might view my impulsive behavior as confidence or self-awareness. They couldn't be more wrong.  I used to pretend like it was a great trait, especially when all of my friends agonized over which finger nail polish to buy.  I never have a hard time making a decision and it irks me when other people do. I just make it without much thought of consequence and pray it all works out.  Sometimes it does, most of the time I should have taken more time. But, I never look back and ask myself why, I just move on. I am impulsive like that. My oldest child is equally impulsive which has made the trait I once prided myself in less and less appealing to me, especially since his impulsive ways have almost cost him his life once or twice. 

 Today I was impulsive again.  Don't worry I didn't buy a house or anything. I cut my own hair in our upstairs bathroom.  You see, I was sitting here thinking about how my ego couldn't take my monthly trip to the Hair Cuttery.  What I mean is, first, when you have short hair you have to get it trimmed monthly, second, I get it cut at a place where nobody speaks English. They all speak either Farsi or Korean and it appears to me that the two cultures have waged war on each other right there in the beauty shop. This makes it terribly uncomfortable. Of course no one forces me to go there. I have several friends that cut hair and do a great job, only problem is I actually have to plan ahead and make an appointment not just run over when I have a spare moment sometime between 9AM and 9PM, seven days a week.  Not to mention Hair Cuttery is cheap, so I subject myself to the abuse.  Inevitably I hear things like, "Why you wait so long to come?" or "You gray hair look terrible!"  or "Why you wear hair like boy? Be prettier if you grew out." or "You buy cheap shampoo. It stink!"  They also point and laugh at me in their native tongues. Anyway back to the impulse. As I was sitting here contemplating my expedition to the Hair Cuttery I thought, "Man, I wish I could cut my own hair." I cut the kid's hair. Plus each time I go to the beauty shop I get a different person to whom I have to explain my cowlicks and not a single hair dresser has ever cut my hair the same way twice.  How tough can it be?  So, I watched a YouTube video on how to cut hair.  Granted the people in the video were trained professionals with things like razors and thinning shears and even scissors that were custom made for hair. They also could see completely around the person's head. They did not rely on faith and a hand held mirror to cut the back. They had a 360 degree view.  "Who cares?" I thought. "I have some dull fabric scissors that can no longer even cut felt upstairs, those will work fine."  Yeah, I went through with it. It took me about 2 hours and it wasn't easy but it actually doesn't look too bad. I have had worse haircuts that is for certain.  Plus, I will only get better with practice. Today my impulsive behavior saved me $30 a month. 

Moral of the story:  Find a happy medium between being brave (my upbeat word for impulsive) and using your brain to really think things through.  I am pretty sure balance is the key to eternal happiness. That and not getting made fun of in a foreign language.

***Disclaimer: I have nothing against Koreans, Iranians, Hairdressers, Old People or Lesbians. I would gladly let an old half Korean, half Iranian lesbian hairdresser do my hair if it was free of charge and free of insults.