For those of you who know me pretty well, cutting my hair was not even a thought. I loved my hair: it was long, thick, luscious, and generally speaking, gorgeous.

I moved to a town two and a half hours away from my previous home where I was known among friends as the shy girl, the one who doesn’t really talk, the quiet one. I hid behind my long hair to stay in the background and be nearly unnoticeable. Upon moving, I became weary of these labels, I wanted to be more confident and get out of my comfort zone of staying silent.

February of 2016, I finally did something to change that. The feeling of having 13 inches of my hair cut off was amazing. All my shyness, my unwillingness to socialize, and everything that went along with it, was in the hands of my hairdresser, tied in a neat ponytail. I instantly became confident and felt free from my previous labels. I am the person I want to be not what people placed me as and I love it. I love that I can talk to people without feeling awkward, not shying away from large crowds but jumping in with their discussion, actually making friends without having to be introduced by a mutual friend.

Finally, I am Mikayla again.