A few years ago I read a worksheet that my little brother brought home from school. It had lots of questions on it such as, "What is your favorite color?", "What is your favorite sport?" and "What is your favorite thing about yourself?" The answers to those first two questions haven't stuck with me, but I remember what he put for the last one: my hair. I think I remember because I thought, "Yeah, me too." Funny isn't it, how we attach ourselves to physical features and identify ourselves with them? I think it's good to appreciate our bodies and be grateful, respectful and caring toward our bodies, but when I called my hair one of my favorite parts of my body I was going further than appreciation or respectfulness.
About two or three years ago my hair began to thin and that was when I started to realize how attached I was to it (and ironically how unattached it was to me). It was hard. As much as I had liked it and identified with it I then began to miss it and need something else with which to identify myself. I know it seems kind of crazy and petty, especially when compared to losing an arm or a leg, but I think the difficulty has a lot more to do with the attachment than with the object. If your "favorite thing about yourself" is anything physical that can be lost then losing it can and will be very difficult.
Now I am not totally over my attachment to my hair, but I am slowly getting there. I appreciate my body, though I need to show that more through regular exercise and healthy habits, but I am trying not to identify with it as much anymore. It is my hope that soon, when I think about my favorite thing about myself, I will think about character rather than follicles.
