This weekend I decided that I was bored with life, and my boredom usually causes me to spice things up a bit, sometimes in small ways and sometimes much larger. I had never really had given it much thought but as I held the utility shears up to my hair, I heard my mom repeating, “Just wait I’ll call and get you an appointment,” until I finally put the scissors down and let her make the call. I realized then that I make decisions without a second thought. I view this as a positive attribute and definitely a character flaw.
Over the course of my life I have come to realize that being impulsive is both a good and bad thing, but I believe that without those impulsive decisions I wouldn’t be who I am today. Impulsive decisions can lead to a myriad of poor purchases or poor navigational choices, but can also lead to new adventures and things you just can’t live without.
My list of my top 5 impulsive decisions certainly has a wide range, but I’m sure you can all relate (maybe) to most, if not all, of them.
1. Lopping off my hair
While it sounds certainly scary, mostly it’s just frustration with a lack of money for a professional haircut. The cuts I typically tend toward are not difficult and with a simple YouTube tutorial, can’t anyone be a hairdresser ? This weekend was just one example of my boredom and financial frustration getting the best of me, but thankfully my mom offered to pay for the haircut. So my bangs live to see another day evenly.
2. Dying my hair
Yes this is me, my senior year of high school with my home hair dye job.
Dying my hair, however, is an entirely different story. I have had certainly quite the variety of hair colors. In high school, I had bold hair colors like plum, strawberry blonde and black because I have naturally brown hair that I find annoyingly plain. Of course, I never told my mom and would just pick up a box after school and do it before she even got home. There is certainly a reason that there are professional colorists! My “bold hair colors” tended to only be bold in certain parts of my hair, leaving the overall effect with something to be desired. Now in my senior year of college, at the ripe age of 22, I have realized that I should stick to my red hair or brown hair and to see a professional at all times.
3. Transferring schools
Photo from Niagara.edu
I know this sounds like something that probably takes a lot of thought, but I am here to tell you that I must be the exception to the case. I have attended five different schools, and like I have mentioned, I am just now headed into my senior year. I started at a local community college then decided that wasn’t enough fun for me and headed to a university in New York City, the city that never sleeps. My excitement was short lived, the enormous cost of living in NYC and my outrageous tuition bill led me away and I decided that I would move to Charlotte, NC. Charlotte is an up and coming city and offered an opportunity to escape (by the way my impulsivity causes me to run away from my bad choices). Charlotte, however, was also impossible to manage. In three months, with the lack of a support system and my lack of employment, the bills began to stack and my outlook on life started to dim. So with the support of my parents, I came home. I attended a different local community college and stayed at my parents' house, which always is a trying time as any young adult will agree. I stayed at the community college for the three semesters and earned my associate’s degree, marking the longest time I had stayed in one place since high school graduation. Now I’m at Niagara and I don’t plan to leave. I’ve had enough of the transferring and plan to graduate in the spring before moving again.
4. Getting a tattoo
I have two tattoos, both of which are the outcome of an impulsive decision. My first tattoo was on Thanksgiving break when I turned 18. It is a simple tattoo, and of course, in a different language. My second tattoo is a quote, "without struggle there is not progress," that I got when I came back from North Carolina, which if you've been following that story through the list, then you know is certainly fitting. Both tattoos are still meaningful to me today. So in the end, thankfully, they worked out.
5. Buying a dog
Instagram: phineasthedog
I know that this will probably sound bad and I will probably be judged for it. It happened during my brief stint in Charlotte. As I mentioned, it was a rather dim time for me, so I decided to buy a dog off of Craigslist. I did look at many of them and decided to purchase a dog that I found cute and also knew the current owners had no other options and had not been caring for him properly. My sister and I met the young couple in the parking lot of a Walmart, payed $50 and brought home Phineas. Phin quickly became my best friend and light at the end of the tunnel. As we transitioned from North Carolina back home, Phin travelled with us and now lives with my parents and their dog while I finish out school.
Each of these impulsive decisions had their own pros an cons, but in the end each of them worked out. Whether it was having a professional tend to my hair, finding my true college home or rescuing my best friend Phin, each of my impulsive decisions never had any permanent negative affects. Not to say that there aren't impulsive decisions that do, I was just fortunate to have managed mine.
