I had always hated my eyebrows when I was younger. I was constantly looking for ways to improve them, but never thought I would take it to the extreme. When I saw Emily L.’s tiny eyebrows in the fifth grade, I don’t know what possessed me to shave my own. I was standing in my bathroom staring into the mirror and grasping my sister’s razor with my right hand as if losing my grip meant losing my life. I slowly raised my hand and, remembering those small eyebrows of my peer, I shaved nearly three quarters of my eyebrow off. In the moment, it seemed like a great idea but as soon as I was done, I regretted my decision. I remember staring back at myself in the mirror, with my hands on the sink and my heart racing. I instantly knew I had to tell my mom, because I was the kind of kid who would tell on herself. I took a deep breath and exited the bathroom. Suddenly the door to my parent’s bedroom seemed abnormally close. I inched my way down the hallway, my palms sweating as I got closer and closer to the door. It seemed like every step I took, the walls closed in on me a little bit more. I thought that my heart would explode inside of me if this went on for any longer. As I approached the door, my insides felt as tight as a rubber band cutting off your circulation. I finally built up enough courage to walk into my parent’s room, and that was when I knew this was my biggest mistake. The second they saw me, their faces went white with fear, and mine followed shortly after.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” My mother practically screamed at me.

As a confused eleven year old, I just kind of stood there unsure of what to say. “I just shaved my eyebrows, mom.” I eventually spit out trying to play it cool.

I suddenly felt a miraculous weight lifted off my shoulders, but it all came back when neither of my parents said anything for what seemed like hours. We eventually talked about how what I had done was wrong and how I need to ask them before doing something like this, blah blah blah. That’s when it kicked in that I had to go to school the next day and face all of my classmates.

When I woke up in the morning, I found the biggest school sweatshirt I owned and put it on, planning on hiding my face all day. The second I got to school every one seemed to notice that I was missing the majority of my eyebrows and, right as I thought things couldn’t get worse, I remembered we had a co-ed choir class that day.
When my dreaded last period choir class arrived, I pulled my hood over my face and walked into the full room with my head down. I found a seat in the back and tried my best not to be noticed.

“Maureen, sit up and remove your hood, class has started” Ms. Unrau yelled to me from the front of the room.
Everyone turned to me as I sat up and slowly slid my navy blue hood down the back of my head until it was all the way off. I was in shock when the only people who seemed to notice anything were my friends who I had told over and over about how embarrassed I was.  I made it through the rest of that class, and the rest of that week, and the rest of the next couple of months that it took for my eyebrows to grow back all the way.

After this experience, I learned not only that just because someone else does something, that doesn’t mean you should, but also that what you look like on the outside isn’t as big of a deal as it seems to be. As long as you are confident in the way you look, people will not judge you solely based on your appearance. Although in the moment, this seemed to be such a big deal, reflecting on it made me realize how silly this mistake really is. I chose to write about this incident not considering the fact that the first mistake that comes to my mind has to do with the way that I look on the outside which, in the long run, doesn’t even matter.