I made a boo-boo (but it turned out to be for the best)

I wasn’t sure whether to share this as a blog post.

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I did share it in The Connection Hub for Awesome Women private Facebook group pretty soon after it happened but… that’s, well, private, so it didn’t feel quite so exposing.

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Since I started building my independent coaching practice there hasn’t been all that much of a distinction between my business identity and my personal persona. Since one of the things I try to support my clients to do is to step into the fullest expression of themselves In both their personal and professional lives, to be any other way in my business would feel hypocritical.

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Even so, there’s a difference between speaking from the heart on Instagram for #WednesdayWakeUp and posting makeup-less selfies on your website...

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But I know there’s a lesson here about owning your mistakes and how those mistakes often teach us something valuable. So, I thought, why the hell not.

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I should explain…

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Since I decided to cut off 10 months’ worth of unchecked afro growth during lockdown, about every month or so I stand in my bathroom with a towel round my neck and I go over my head with a pair of clippers. It always takes a few passes to make it look even, so in between I give it a quick shampoo to loosen up any errant tufts.

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Well, when I cut my hair about a week ago, I had a bit of a… mishap…

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When I went back for a second pass after shampooing my hair, I lifted the clippers to my head and…

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Oh bugger! 😱

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I knew the second I felt the touch of cold metal on skin that I’d made a mistake.

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Now, my hair grows out in a matter of weeks, so I tend to use the shortest guard.

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But I’d forgotten to put the bloody guard back on!

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I’d shaved a square patch at the side of my head right down to scalp…

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The first thing I did was send a message to the WhatsApp group shared with my mum and my sister. With a photo, of course.

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There were some Nooo! reactions of horror and a few suggestions for how to somehow cover it up.

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None of them would have worked.

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I didn’t really feel the same sense of horror that they did, because by the time I’d sent the message that initial shock had already passed and I was feeling more amused at my own absentmindedness than anything else.

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I knew the decision had been taken out of my hands. There was nothing I could do to reverse the action that had already taken place. After all, I couldn’t stick the hair back on, could I?

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In that moment, I knew I had no choice but to commit.

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I just had to go all in.

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So, I decided to own my mistake and shave it all off.

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The thing is, I can’t tell you how long I’ve resisted the temptation to take my hair right down to as short as it is now.

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Even though my hair grows quickly, it’s always felt a bit drastic. I think I’ve always worried that it might look a bit severe, or that it might not suit me.

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But there was something so liberating about just running the guardless clippers across my head without having to worry about tidying up edges or making sure my teeny tiny ‘fro was a uniform length. It was just so easy.

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Once I’d cleaned myself up and caught sight of myself in the mirror, I wondered why I’d never done it before.

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And now I’ve done it once, there’s no turning back. This is my life now, as a certified slap head! 😆

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There are so many things that feel terrifying until we just do them. Things we resist because we’re unsure of the outcome. Or because we’ve made up a story about what that outcome might be or what it might mean.

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Sometimes we take the decision to make a drastic change. Sometimes our hand is forced. Either way, once that point of no return is passed, there’s no turning back.

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Is there a decision you’ve been hovering on the verge of making? What would happen if you just took off the guard and went for it?

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Oh and I saved the before and after photos until the end, obviously...

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This is one of a series of (regular-ish) articles and blog posts about coaching, compassion and culture. Head to annettecorbett.com/links to read more about my work and sign up to my mailing list

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Helping women in the creative industries reveal their inner awesome, so they can practice more compassion in their life, leadership and wellbeing without cracking up, giving up, or compromising their core beliefs