it's all about perspective

I cut my hair about three weeks ago....I mean CUT.  I went from long hair almost to my mid-back to short, "pixie" cut.  I've always wanted to do it.  Since college!  But I've always talked myself out of it.  Worried about how it would look, how long it would take to grow out, and oh those horrible "growing my hair out-in between haircuts" (those are never pretty).  But after a rough month in April, my perspective changed.  "It's only hair."  "It will always grow out again."  I kinda realized in the grand scheme of life that it truly is only hair and it will grow out again.  But what came afterwards was a bit more than I expected.
To Isabel, my haircut makes me a boy.  "You look like a boy b/c your hair is short."  From Isabel's wise 6 year old PERSPECTIVE, my haircut is just like a boy's so it must make me a boy.  She cannot understand why a mom, her mom, would have this haircut.
To my dad who has only ever really known my cousin Joy to have a pixie cut, "You look just like Joy Loree."  My dad is used to his daughters having long hair.  He's used to me always having at least chin-length hair and to see such a pixie cut, his only PERSPECTIVE is that it reminds him of my cousin Joy.
To a man from church, he responded honestly "I really don't like women with short hair but it looks alright.  I think I'll get used to it."  For him, women with short hair don't necessarily work for him.  But he recognizes that it looks okay on me and he'll give it his best shot to approve b/c he likes me and wants me to be happy.
So what's the big deal?  It's just a haircut BUT it's kinda taught me a bit about perspective.  I don't necessarily think it is a bad thing to stick with what you know.  But sometimes stepping outside of the norm, going against your norm brings about pleasant surprises.  It also helps to look at others from THEIR perspective.  Instead of finding offense or judging instantly, try to look at the other person's perspective and you might realize that she isn't really a boy, she just rocks a cool new 'do!