When I was a little girl, I had very blonde hair until I was about 11 years old. As I aged, it became more of a dishwater blonde and eventually transitioned into a medium brown shade. Now, there have definitely been times over the past few years that I have dyed my hair a dark chocolate brown shade to bring out my deep brown eyes, but this summer, I decided to do something a little different. I decided to go blonde, not only because I wanted an external cosmetic change, but because I wanted it to hopefully reflect and ignite the internal growth that I have been striving for these past couple months.

Now before I continue, I would like to preface that I think brown hair is absolutely gorgeous, and I know plenty of bright and beautiful people that have dark hair and this is in no way a reflection of them, but a reflection of me and what I needed in my life this summer. So why did I go blonde? When I was little, I was the happiest, most positive little girl you ever did meet. I had so many friends, and I will be honest when I say that I was an absolute ray of sunshine that people loved to be around. I loved to shine, being the lead in basically all of my elementary school plays. I was fearless. I was outgoing, always singing, and so full of energy. Sometime in junior high, my light started to dim, darkening everything around me, and with this light, the brightness of my hair dimmed as well.

Over the years, as mentioned earlier, I dyed my hair darker, but throughout high school I would often opt for lighter hair, trying to hold on to the brightness that my personality had lost. I no longer tried out for school plays, my confidence dwindled, I turned from extrovert to introvert, I became more negative, and no longer fought for the goals that I once had throughout my childhood. When I started college, I went even blonder and the fresh start did wonders for me. I was more outgoing and truly feel that I brought a ray of sunshine during this time. As college continued, with health conditions exacerbating due to stress, my light began to dim again, and so did my hair color. This is a correlation that I only just realized a couple of months ago when I sat down with the important people in my life to discuss some major life changes that needed to be made if I wanted to survive the rest of graduate school, and eventually reach my goal of becoming a pediatric physical therapist.

So why did I go blonde? Because I want the brightness back. I want the lively, outgoing, positive girl that everyone used to love when I was a little girl and a freshman in college. I want the changes and growth that I have been making through medical means, prayer, and family/friend support to shine through externally. The blonde color has brought out the gold in my brown eyes, and made me brighter overall, a true reflection of what I have been working so diligently towards. I have been receiving comments from the people closest to me not only on my hair color but on my overall personality and attitude. I am finally starting to come out of my shell again, finally shining with the gifts God gave me, including athleticism, brightening the lives of those around me, a sense of humor, and musical talent including playing the piano and singing.

Yes, the reason that I went blonde this summer is probably a lot deeper than anyone anticipated. They probably thought that like most others, I went blonde because it is summer and I wanted to make a change. While this is true, it seriously runs so much deeper than that. I probably will dye my hair darker again in the future, since it is closer to my now natural color, but my goal is to not let my internal brightness go with it. I want to strive to be brighter not only for myself but for the people that I love the most, and for my future patients, because I truly believe that from brightness stems happiness, positivity, and most of all, love. And love, my friends, truly does conquer all.

So if you are working hard to get your internal brightness back, perhaps an external change will help to reflect your progress like it has for me. I'm not telling everyone to go out and dye their hair blonde, but perhaps something as simple as fun-colored nail polish, a shorter haircut, or even some added bronzer on that beautiful face will suffice. Shine. Be You. But most of all, don't hide the extraordinary talents that you have been given, because they sure are amazing, just like you. I promise.