My whole life, I have had generally pretty long hair. My mother nicknamed me "Goldilocks" when I was a little girl because I had long, curly, golden hair. I would get compliments from strangers, and people at school would always play with my hair and tell me how jealous they were of my hair.

Then I'm not sure what happened.

It became a mess, and was always tangled. I stopped brushing it because I enjoyed the messy look (or because I'm a lazy college student with no time on my hands), but then my ends started to split and it just got gross and bothersome to deal with. I had to do something. Something drastic.

I cut all of it off. All of it.

I spent weeks, if not months, gathering information and collecting pictures and weighing the pros and cons of having a pixie cut or a long bob or a graduated pixie or just plain shaving my head. Of course, I wouldn't shave my head because I think that my recruitment chair would have a heart attack, so I chose the next best thing: a pixie cut.

When someone who has had fairly long hair goes through a huge transformation, they experience a few new (and possibly weird) things.

1. You Have FREEDOM.

I don't know how I have lived my entire life without feeling the wind on my neck without having to have my hair in an uncomfortable ponytail. I cannot express how good it feels not having to constantly peel my sweat soaked, stringy hair off of my neck after I work out or run outside. With my haircut, I opted to buzz a bit of my hair off above my ear on the left side of my head, and when the wind blows just right, I literally feel like I'm in heaven. Why haven't boys told us how good the wind feels on our scalps?!

2. You have to master the art of styling short hair.

When I got my hair cut, I thought, "Oh, this is great. I can just roll out of bed and go! My hair is gonna look awesome, right?!" Wrong. I'm used to just washing my hair and being done with it, but now I have to brush it into place, put mousse in it, blow dry it, use hair wax to make sure it stays in place, and constantly touch my hair to make sure people aren't mistaking me for a member of One Direction. I like a low maintenance lifestyle. Live easy. Be chill. But this hair cut has been anything but chill. However, I am in the process of mastering the art of styling it without really trying. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

3. You hear, "YOUR HAIR IS SO CUTE. LET ME TOUCH IT."

Woah woah woah, hold on there buddy! I like having my hair played with as much as the next girl, but you do not understand how long it took me to have it look perfectly tousled. Refer to my previous bullet point about this one. I appreciate the compliments, really. Who doesn't like being called adorable and cute and have their cheeks pinched all in one sitting? But I also don't want my hair to get gross and greasy because of your hands running through my hair!

4. No one recognizes you.

Granted, for this one, I am a generic-looking, white female, but even some of my closer friends and acquaintances had to do a double take when they first saw me. "Wow, I didn't know it was you!" or, "You look so different!" or even, "I thought you were a boy." Well, thank you for mistaking me for a boy, but I am definitely a girl, and this is just what I look like now! I'm sorry if it throws you off (not really though, because I look fab). People still can't get used to how short my hair is. Even sometimes when I look in the mirror, it's hard to really get used to the "new me."

5. You feel invigorated.

After I cut my hair, I felt like a new woman. I know that's a little cliche, but I really did. My long, stringy, curly, messy hair was just a reminder of this past year, which was terrible. I went through a lot in the past year and a half, from losing my father, to watching my sister struggle in life, to going through a horrendous breakup... Now I feel like all that weight has lifted off of my shoulders (quite literally) after this haircut. It was so drastic and so perfect for me that I'm surprised I didn't do it sooner.

(photo credit: Hannah Decker)

All in all, change is good. I'm big on change. I embrace change and I encourage everyone else to change a little something in their life, wardrobe, or even in their daily hair routine. I promise, it really does make a world of difference...even if people mistake you for a boy.