Are you accepting aspects of your life that aren’t working for you because you automatically assume it can’t be better or that it has to be that way?

I recently realized I was doing this with a small thing and a small thing that bugs you everyday can have a bigger impact than you’d think.

This is what happened to me.

Over the last 5 years I noticed my scalp was dry. Sometimes my scalp would itch, it would be flaky, and I went through bouts of having a lot of static in my hair. 

At first I thought it was the dryness of winter, but there was no way I was going to spend the time doing scalp treatments or any of the remedies I saw online, so I figured I could wait until Spring. 

Spring and Summer came and went and my scalp was still dry.

I realized this was becoming a thing, but I’ve worked too hard over the years to detoxify my personal care products and Head & Shoulders wasn’t finding its way into my shower. 

Then I came across a brand of hair care products that I hadn’t seen before. You know the Facebook ads that are really hard to ignore? The brand claimed to be all natural. Spoiler alert, I didn’t end up liking the products after I was having headaches for days while breathing in the smell from the product in my hair.

I’m telling you about this because the first time I used the new product I read the instructions. It was a 4 part system that was supposed to treat the dryness and I didn’t know which order to use them in.

The instructions for the moisturizing treatment product said to massage into the scalp and the roots of my hair and down to the ends.

!!

Put the conditioner on my scalp? DUH!

I hadn’t done this in years!

And that’s when I realized why my scalp was dry. 

Years ago I had cut my hair short, about chin length. I have straight, heavy hair that if left to its own devices will just lay very flat on my head. 

After first cutting my hair, my hairdresser mentioned that to style it she was only going to put the condition on the ends of my hair so that it didn’t weigh it down too much.

Ever since then I’ve only put the conditioner on the length of my hair and not on my scalp or in the roots of my hair.

So a strategy I used to accomplish a goal at one time when I had short hair stuck with me for years as my hair grew to be very long. All the while, my scalp was getting dryer and itchier.

Although I wasn’t satisfied with the results I was getting from my current hair care routine, I absentmindedly continued to follow the same practice without questioning its current usefulness to me.

Are your habits, routines, strategies, values, boundaries, preferences, etc. still serving you? 

As the year is ending and you’re planning your goals for 2022, this is a great time to ask yourself this question!

I’m not suggesting that you start questioning all your decisions or routines. For now, let’s leave what’s not broken alone. 

I suggest you take time to thoughtfully reconsider anything that isn’t working for you though.

Are you struggling with an aspect of your life that has become so second nature to you that you don’t even question whether it can be better?

Is there something that bugs you everyday that could actually be better? 

Why is it the way it is? 

Can it be different? 

And before you impulsively say, “No”, I’d suggest you start by thinking, “How can this be different?”