Time for a Trim

Back when this quarantine began, I wrote a post about how I’d decided not to trim my beard until it was over. Of course, that was an easier post to write when I didn’t really think we’d be going much past . . . June? Surely by the Fourth of July, we’d be back in action. But the days turned to weeks, and those turned to months.

And my beard only got longer.

The whole time I’ve had a beard (more than 15 years at this point), I’ve often thought it would be cool to have a long beard. What would I look like? How would it feel? I mean, if I like a short beard, wouldn’t even more of it be better?

I can now say without reservation that Bryces don’t like long beards. Period. I would have trimmed my beard two months ago if it hadn’t been for that goal of not trimming until I’m back in public. But I’m very goal-oriented, and so I stuck with it.

What don’t I like about long beards? They’re work. A huge selling point for my beard is that I don’t have to think about it, typically. I wake up and don’t need to shave. Don’t need to do anything with it. It’s just there. With a long beard, you have to brush it. It’s constantly getting in the way. And for me at least, it’s just plain enormous. If I could make money growing hair, I would be making a whole lot of money. I have a ton of it, and my beard is very thick. As it got bigger, it spread out more as well.

Bottom line? It began to really bug me. I didn’t like how it looked or how I looked with it. And I began to long for the day when I could trim it back. It was also a constant reminder to me of the mess we’re in with COVID right now. Goals are one thing, but mental health is important too.

As I mentioned last week, I went to a small get together with friends. That didn’t seem to be “public” enough to warrant trimming the beard. However, this week, I’ve been asked to give a talk in church. In person. Now, this will be under very controlled circumstances. No more than 25 people in the building, let alone the room. The room can easily hold 250 people. Everyone will be masked. There won’t be any singing. No handshakes.

But it will be “public.”

And so yesterday to prepare for the talk, I finally trimmed my beard again. I think the last time I trimmed it was before Christmas, so it was about 7 months long, for reference. I can’t imagine me wanting to let it go past 5 months again. To those of you with long beards, my hat’s off. I don’t know how you do it. I’m a much happier Bryce today than I was yesterday.

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