Why did I decide to stop pursuing cosmetology?

This is a question I get a lot. Back in 2013, two weeks after I graduated high school I moved to Colorado and attended Toni and Guy Hairdressing academy. It was an overall awesome experience! Being in the school was super fun and I was really enjoying learning about hairdressing. I made some awesome friends and started coming out of my shell more! It was awesome and I don’t regret going to cosmetology school at all. However once I started in the industry I didn’t really care for it as much as I did in school. I worked at one salon for about a month but there was so much toxicity and drama happening between the people there that it was so off-putting. So then I went to a barbershop. Worked there for about 3 months and again nothing but drama and talking behind other people’s backs. It was extremely unpleasant to go to everyday. All my friends from beauty school were saying how they had very similar experiences as well and slowly the enjoyment I found in hairdressing quickly became a feeling of anxiety. I was feeling so bummed about having to go to work everyday. But this is what I’m supposed to be doing. This was the grand plan so what was I supposed to do?

I ended up quitting the barbershop and was feeling pretty lost in what I wanted to do so I just took some time off from hairdressing and worked at this great breakfast restaurant in Downtown Colorado Springs called Over Easy. Made some amazing friends there that I love and cherish so so much! I started exploring Colorado more and creating radical experiences for myself. I had never felt so happy or alive before. To this day I feel like my true passions are just getting lost in nature with the ones I love and creating art. That is where I find my happiness, where I can go find myself again when I feel lost. Feeling happiness and contentment is so much more important to me then any amount of money a job could ever give me. I don’t think I will ever go back to working at a salon. Going outside of society’s norm is okay, it’s okay to not know what you want to do. It’s okay to want to do something not a lot of people have done. It’s okay to want to purse something that seems impossible. I love the life I have created so much! Find yourself, find your true passions, and just role with it! 🌞