joy in the little things.

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Everyday is a good hair day. 
I realize that’s a pretty bold statement, but these days it’s true. Flashback to a year or so back, and I would have been singing a different tune. I’ve always held my hair in high esteem, probably a little to high in retrospect. As a little girl, I always had short hair {a classic bowl cut was my go-to}, so once I got to be older and supposedly wiser, my first order of business was growing out my hair to be as long and ‘princess’ like as possible. As I got older, more and more of my identity was wrapped up in my luscious locks. Suffering from pretty low self confidence in high school, my mantra became “well, at least I like my hair.” Ahhh….who doesn’t miss high school? *both hands raised*

The year after I graduated from college, my hair started falling out at a rapid rate – we’re talking more than your average run of the mill shed. Every time I even touched my hair my shoulders would be covered in long blond strands.  It got to the point where I never took my hair out of a ponytail in fear that it would all fall out. I tried everything – showered with freezing water, stopped brushing my hair altogether, and started popping vitamins like a madwoman. I ate gobs of protein, and gave up gluten, then dairy, and started drinking green juice like champagne.

Needless to say, my attempts ended in vain. When I finally gave up that I was suffering through a phase, I made my way to the doctor. After some slightly painful testing, they told me I had alopecia – an autoimmune disease that mistakenly attacks your hair follicles. Since my hair seemed to be falling out everywhere on my head, rather than the usual circular spots – the doctor decided to tell me that it was possible that all my hair could fall out. Not exactly the news your looking for or expecting as a young 20 something.

So, what’s a girl to do? After a few days of feeling rather gloomy, I started to realize that I’m much more than my hair, or any of my other features really. Heck, I was the luckiest girl in the world for having something as superficial as my hair bringing me down – it all suddenly felt rather silly. So in an act of defiance {and a little bit of fear} I chopped it all off – and it was the most freeing feeling in the world. I even wrote about it, because I knew there were other people who were probably going through the exact same thing. The less I stressed about it, the better I started to feel, and the more my hair started to grow back…slowly but surely.

And now, a year or so later, my hair is better than ever {well, at least growing back, which I’ll definitely take}. True, my hair still falls out from time to time, but I’ve learned to not sweat the small stuff, and definitely not worry about my hair anymore. All in all, about 1/2 my hair did fall out, but most of it has started to grow back {I reached the milestone ponytail a few months back which was ridiculously exciting}. When things happen that you don’t expect, they tend to teach us what we needed to learn. Learning to find more joy in the little things was the best lesson of them all. 

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11 thoughts on “joy in the little things.”

  2. Brenna McCarthy

    So brave of you to share this – it's a fabulous reminder to be thankful for what you have and not to sweat the small stuff. For the record, your hair looks lovely…glad it's growing back!

  3. Molly

    Beautiful post, Maya! It's so easy to let our physical appearance drive confidence, but there is so much more to us girls than the hair on our head. You handled all of this really well. And no matter what your hair looks like – it's always beautiful! I actually love short hair 🙂

  4. Rachel

    I had no idea you wrote an article about this for HG- that's amazing! It was a great read. And for the record- you look amazing with short hair! You are inspiring to girls everywhere

  8. Alyssa

    Maya you are SO incredibly brave and inspiring for sharing this. You have an incredible outlook and prove you're just as gorgeous inside as you are outside. I'm so proud to know you!

  9. Megan Stylish + Scatterbrained

    Thank you so much for sharing your story, it is truly inspiring and it helps to have the reminder not to sweat the small stuff. You are an incredible woman and so happy to hear how positive of an experience you turned this into. You are truly beautiful on the inside and out!

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