This past spring break, I found myself with nothing to do. I had been feeling uninspired and not myself for a while, and I wanted to do something that would make me feel good. By the end of that day, half of my hair had been dyed pink.

I didn't do anything permanent, it was temporary pink hair dye and I took 3 showers that night to rinse it out before my mom would see. However, it was a wakeup call. For 10 bucks I felt like I was ready to be my own person again, and the feeling continued (even three showers later).

The first experiences I had with my pink hair consisted of laughing at myself with my friends and questioning how I suddenly ended up in this position.

The next step was going in public.

I had expected myself to face initial insecurities entering my conservative town's grocery store with freshly dyed, hot pink hair. However, I surprised myself. Ironically, my new hair had actually given me a major confidence boost. I felt excited to be in public, and eager to expose my new self to more and more people.

Driving in my paint chipped, 1970s Toyota Camry suddenly felt glamorous. I drove with my windows down, not thinking twice about what I looked like or who I saw in passing. I felt so elated I hoped I would never have to go back inside again (not just in fear that my mother would find out).

Beyond my experiences with the world and people around me, what stuck with me most, of course, was what I truly learned about myself.

It's easy to look at other people's lives as an outsider and be envious. Influencers and celebrities make drastic changes all the time, be it their style, hair, diet, etc. and w we as viewers watch in awe. Even on mainstream television characters can do so much in a single episode, and come the next, it's like nothing had ever happened. I learned that my life is no different. One day I had pink hair, and the next day I didn't. It was that simple.

There are so many opportunities in life to be explored, and I was so wrong to think that I was not eligible for these experiences. Think of all the things we would deem as "crazy" for our own lives, but admirable if they were to exist in the lives of the people we admire. It's time to begin to admire ourselves in the same way.

I dyed my hair pink for a day, and what I realized was that the only thing keeping me inside my comfort zone was myself.