Shaving, Friar Tuck, and Coloring Outside the Lines

On freedom

“But if you don’t care what others think,” said bird, “how will you know if you’re doing it the right way?”

“Because if I care what others think,” smiled bear, “I can never do it the right way.”

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📷: The Tusindtak!

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I’ve been shaving my head for years now.

When I was younger, I did it because I could.

Now, I do it because a Friar Tuck isn’t my jam.

I was shaving my face the other day when I noticed something.

I unconsciously stopped the razor at the bottom of my sideburn.

A sideburn that isn’t really there.

A sideburn that is more memory than reality.

For decades, I did have legit sideburns.

And not shaving them too short mattered to me.

I took that arbitrary line between jaw and temple seriously.

Long or short, thick or thin, I saw those sideburns as a part of my identity.

So, I had to laugh when I realized I was carefully shaving to the edge of something that wasn’t actually there anymore.

How many times do you stop at that edge, at boundaries that are no longer there, at lines that no longer serve you?

When I realized I could keep the razor moving from my jawline to the top of my head, I felt this wacky kind of freedom; like I was giving myself permission to color outside the lines, to let go of the way things were and here for what is now.

It was an awesome feeling, and has me looking for other places in my everyday where I erase old lines that don’t serve me any longer.

Can you reflect on a place in your life where you might be allowing the way “things used to be” to shape your thoughts, your actions, your behaviors in the present?

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