Corona Pandemic - What missed haircuts can teach us about life
Who is this person staring at me?

Corona Pandemic - What missed haircuts can teach us about life

Swen Heidenreich Swen Heidenreich

Swen Heidenreich

?? Authentic Life & Leadership Coach? Diplom-Psychologe | Executive Coach (DBVC) | Führungskr?fte-Entwicklung | HBR Advisory Council Member ??

发布日期: 2020年4月11日
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#selfdevelopment #authenticself #identity #selfdiscovery #coronavirus #haircuts #vanity #physcialdistancing

One of the less important side effects of "physical distancing" (who would have thought of that to be a thing a few months ago?) during the Corona Virus Pandemic is that we can’t get a haircut any longer.

Well, you could – just not a professional one. Unless your partner happens to be a hairdresser, of course. I suppose you could ask a friend, or your spouse, but chances are you will be looking for a new friend, or partner very soon, if you did. So, don’t go there!

So, this is me: Not vain, or conceited – most of the time. Really, I could care less about what others think of me, as you can see from the picture….(a lesson from many years ago and another story).

But still: I get up in the morning and eventually take a look into the mirror - and get increasingly annoyed by what I am witnessing day after day during times of the Corona Virus having the world in lockdown. Yep, even me. Why? Well, because, I am just not a long-hair type of guy. Tried it once in my teens. But that was then. That was my “check ME out! I look just like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon !” - phase. I eventually had to face reality: Me + long hair = scaring strangers on the streets.

But then I realized: “Heck, most people look a bit mushy and tousled these days" - except Mel Gibson, of course. ‘Shared pain is only half the pain’ – as the German country lore has it. So I get dressed and ready for the day. Putting my Neanderthal-long-haired self out there in front of cameras doing Zoom Calls with clients …

One may also begin to contemplate about our current situation on a deeper level. Along the lines of: “If we could only be a bit less judgmental about everyone’s outer appearance, then we could actually save a ton of money on haircuts…”. But then again, not the kind of human evolution my hairdresser would be looking forward to.

Okay, where I am going with this? Does this post have a point? Yes, it does So, let’s take a closer look: Hair. What is hair? Hair is

A. one of the most superficial (meaning above the surface) things on us. And

B. it is also dead. Essentially, dead cells our body tries to shed.

Let’s look at point A. above. And let’s move from the outside in. Here is an interesting observation to think about:

The more we look at our outer shell, the more we differ from other human beings. The more we go inside, the more we are alike.

For instance, there are countless hairstyles. We come in hundreds of different skin colors, body heights, shapes and forms. Isn’t is peculiar that we concern ourselves so much with those superficial things? I mean, as a species that considers itself so much more evolved than the rest of the animal kingdom? And still, here we are constantly being worried about the most superficial things in life.

Now let me take you on a tour inside of our body:

  • Blood types: a handful. There are four main blood groups (types of blood) – A, B, AB and O and each group can be either RhD positive or RhD negative, which means in total there are eight main blood groups.
  • Organs: There are 79 - well, roughly. There is some debate about how you define an organ. But they are the same in shape and form in all of us – with female and male differences of course. 
  • Our Body cells: They differ in numbers and there are different cells, sure,  but  all cells have certain parts in common such as a plasma membrane, cytoplasm, ribosomes, and DNA.
  • Then atoms: the atoms we are all made of are the same: For a typical human of 70 kg, there are almost 7*10 to the power of 27 atoms (that's a 7 followed by 27 zeros!). Of this, almost 2/3 is hydrogen, 1/4 is oxygen, and about 1/10 is carbon. These three atoms add up to 99% of the total! You also contain much smaller amounts of the other elements that are essential for life.
  • Then subatomic particles: Each atom contains three small subatomic particles - protons, neutrons and electrons. And yes, you guessed it: universally identical.  

And now that we are here, at the core of our being, it gets really interesting. Let’s look at what subatomic particles actually DO:

They appear and disappear, and appear again etc. with such high velocity that we have the illusion of solid matter.

So really, what we are at our very core is...ENERGY.


BAAAAM. If that doesn′t knock you off your chair, I don’t know what does. When I first learned about that, I was wonderstruck. “Unbelievable”, I thought. “We are pure energy! Appearing and disappearing constantly…”

But hey, research this for yourself. Or, believe me for another 10 seconds before you do, as I am about to close this blog post…

My point here is this:

Ask yourself: What do you want to focus on in your life:

A. The superficial and even sometimes dead parts of your existence that only separate you from others - and your own authentic self, I may add… OR

B. The very core of your existence, which is pure energy and life, and which you share with EVERY living being on this planet?

So, next time you look into the mirror, take a real good look! What do you see?


Sources:



About the Author

I write and speak about the "authentic self” and promote authenticity in lives, leadership and careers. I am a life-long learner and student of life and people. At the same time, I am also a guide and coach for people on their paths towards a life full of clarity, harmony and purpose. 

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