For the past three years, I have been growing out my hair. I've always loved having long hair, and I've always received compliments for how long and beautiful it was. I felt like my hair made me look good without even trying, and it pulled every look together.

Recently, I began noticing that each morning I automatically put my hair up in a ponytail or clip. It always took way too long to curl or straighten, and if I brushed it became frizzy. I never had enough time in the mornings, so my long, beautiful hair always went up.

Once I noticed how bothersome and time-consuming it was to maintain long hair, I made the split-second decision to cut about a foot of it off. Of course, most salons require an appointment to be made in advance, so I made my appointment for a week later to chop off most of my long, beautiful hair.

As the week slowly passed, I often switched between feeling excitement, fear, regret, and anticipation. I hadn't had shoulder-length hair in three years. I had no idea how it would make me look. All I knew was that I loved having long, beautiful hair, and I was scared of such a sudden, drastic change.

Finally, the day came. I made it to my appointment and tried to act calm. The first thing the hairdresser said was, "You have such long, beautiful hair!" I, again, went through my loop of emotions before telling her how much to cut off. She was excited for me, which made me excited as well.

When I walked out of the salon, I had shoulder-length hair, and I absolutely loved it.

I know what you're thinking: "it's just hair." But change is scary, especially when it is something you have always loved about yourself. And now I love having easily-manageable, beautiful, short hair.

If you love something about yourself, change it. This goes for a physical change, emotional change, cognitive change, or any other kind of change you can think of. When you try new things, you may find something even better that you love, or you may have a greater appreciation for the way you were originally.

From this experience, I have learned that, with a little change, you can find an infinite amount of ways to love yourself.