Have you ever looked up and seen the constellations in the daylight? Would you know how great if felt to be wrapped up in a warm blanket if it wasn’t cold outside? If we didn’t have the dark and we never felt the cold then we couldn’t enjoy the simple things like a night sky peppered with stars or a good snuggle on the couch. The same is true for your hair. You may not be able to appreciate a great haircut if you’ve never had to suffer through a bad one. Without the bad stuff in life we could never have the good stuff because the two exist because of one another.  A blonde highlight will only appear when it is placed next to a darker lowlight, otherwise the color will look flat and boring. Of course this is true in life as well and if we didn’t have to deal with the yucky stuff then we may never really know a good thing when we have it going on already.

This month I’ve been in a major seasonal funk – I mean an mega funk! I tried my hardest to ignore all the “holly jolly” going on around me but I have a very outspoken 6 year old and when she dramatically accused me of not having any Christmas spirit and “only thinking of myself” (ouch!),  I knew I had to snap out of it.  You know that expression “when it rains it pours”? Ya, well I know it! Fighting my mental funk has been hard enough but then my whole house came down with the flu which zapped the last bit of zip I had left, called me out of work 3 days, and displaced many of my customers. I know my whole vibe here on my blog is to stay positive and blah blah blah, but I have a side of me that is opposing this happy go lucky, sunshine and lollipops persona, and I’ve been letting it take over my life. What a great way to start the new year right?

Actually, this IS a great way to start the new year! I’m so tired of feeling this way that I’m starting to remember all the lessons I’ve learned in life and the things that happened to me so that I could learn them. I can honestly say that every good thing that has ever happened to me can be traced back to some awful thing that I thought I could never live through.  I guess I’m just starting off the new year with an extra batch of lemons and it’s up to me to turn them all into a delicious batch of lemonade. I encourage you to do the same thing and if you have to, make a list of all the worst things that have happened to you and challenge yourself to turn it into a positive thing.

I’ll start….

If I hadn’t lost my make-up bag with all my favorite makeup in it, then I wouldn’t have had to buy all my new makeup and I actually ended up finding some pretty awesome stuff to replace my old things!

If I hadn’t fallen behind on my rent and bills while living in my old rental house, then I wouldn’t have moved into my cute little apartment and met a good friend living next door!

If I hadn’t felt lost and alone missing all my hometown friends in CA, then I wouldn’t have made the effort to start to do their hair so that I could afford to visit more often! This worked out so well that I was able to visit 5 times last year and the added bonus was that I was forced to learn another color line.

If I hadn’t become restless in my career and started to feel like I needed more in my life, then I never would’ve started this blog or began thinking about what the “more” I’m looking for might be!

I don’t know what is in store for me in 2014 but I know it will be a roller coaster filled with ups and downs. I may be in a low point right now, but when you’re at the bottom the only place left to go is up, right? And I suppose if I felt perky all the time then you might not believe that I had to make any effort to be that way, you may think I wasn’t authentic and my words of wisdom may just go in one ear and out the other. Happy New Year to you and  I wish you all the best of life for the coming year!