To say the world is crazy feels like an understatement. To say I know every single thing happening all at once would also be incorrect, although every social media app I use seems determined to feed me, and you, an endless stream of information. It is mental overload. What do we do with it all? How do we stand up for the things we find worth fighting for? Are we losing our passion, our will, and the desire to seek the truth?
What happened when our ancestors refused to accept the way things were? Are we not cut from the same cloth, or are we simply an evolution of that cloth? So many rhetorical questions and so many ways to debate the issues of the day.
When you start in the beauty industry, there is a huge focus on what to talk about and what not to talk about in your chair. Stay away from religion. Stay away from politics. Do not talk about other clients. With the climate in America as it is, that line feels harder and harder to maintain. At the same time, I think the industry has evolved enough that these conversations are not as frowned upon as they once were.
I have moved a few times during my hair career, and each time I evolved personally. I also began to understand what I was really good at and what I was not. Early on, I focused on something simple, good energy. Every morning on the bus to New York City I would repeat a little mantra to myself, bring me good energy, good clients, all the positive things. I was at a point in my career where I was good, but I wanted to be better. The easier the energy in my chair, the more I could focus on my craft. I kept this mantra to myself until one day an assistant told me how chill my clients were. I finally shared my little secret, and she replied, whatever it is you are doing, keep at it. It felt like affirmation. The good I was trying to receive was the same good I was trying to put back out. That reciprocity created a clientele I genuinely look forward to seeing all the time.
As social media evolved throughout my career, hairstylists started to feel like rock stars. They built followings. They created their own environments instead of simply stepping into a salon that tried to provide culture for them. It became easier than ever to attract the kind of work you wanted, which often meant your lifestyle and beliefs aligned with your clients.
Something special has happened recently, in the middle of all the uncomfortable headlines both locally and nationally.
Along with providing content for the blog for Le Shag, I also handle all of the social media. I have a unique opportunity to not only be behind the chair, but also to get a glimpse into the business community Kingston has. Recently, I witnessed something I have never seen before. A thread of local businesses came together to unite in keeping our community safe. It started with a few businesses in Kingston and quickly spread throughout the Hudson Valley.
As a former business owner myself in the Hudson Valley, I remember how alienated I felt if we did not become part of certain local business organizations. And even when I did, I still felt like an outsider. What I saw on this thread was not an echo chamber. It was a discussion about how to provide better things for our communities. Everyone did not agree on everything, but they were willing to talk about it. Through the thread, I saw understanding, compassion, and unity. Was there an originator in the thread? Yes. But it did not feel like an oligarchy where someone controlled the conversation. There was no asking for memberships or fees to comply with one thing or another.
Watching that thread unfold made something click for me.
For years I have been thinking about alignment in a personal way. Attracting good energy. Building a clientele that feels right. Creating a space where people can exhale. Social media made that easier. We could curate, filter, build environments that reflected who we are. But what I witnessed in that business thread was something slightly different. It was not about curation. It was about participation. No one agreed on everything. No one was perfectly aligned. And yet they stayed in the conversation. They asked questions. They listened. They adjusted. It was not clean or polished. It was human. That feels closer to what community actually is.
Behind the chair, I see a smaller version of that every day. People do not walk in as headlines or talking points. They walk in as complicated humans carrying their opinions, fears, hopes, and contradictions. My job is not to fix their worldview. It is not to debate. It is not to pretend nothing is happening either. It is to hold a space where someone can be themselves for an hour without being attacked or dismissed. There is a difference between shutting down hard conversations and handling them with care. Maybe the evolution is not about avoiding politics or religion entirely. Maybe it is about maturity. About knowing when to engage and when to simply listen. About recognizing that real community is not an echo chamber, but it also is not chaos. What I saw in that thread was intention. And that feels like the direction forward. Not neutrality. Not outrage. But intentional spaces where disagreement does not automatically mean division, and alignment does not require sameness.
So maybe we are not losing our passion. Maybe we are learning how to use it differently. Maybe the overload, the headlines, the noise, are forcing us to mature. To decide what is worth engaging with and how we want to engage. To understand that outrage is not the same thing as action, and silence is not always the same thing as peace. i used to think the goal was to create a perfectly aligned environment. Good energy only. Easy conversations. Smooth days. I am starting to see that alignment does not mean agreement. It means shared respect. It means staying in the room even when it feels uncomfortable. The salon chair taught me that long before I could articulate it. People are layered. So are communities. So is this moment in time.
What I witnessed in that business thread was not a perfect solution. It was a group of people choosing to participate instead of retreat. Choosing discussion over division. Choosing care over control. Maybe that is the evolution. Intentional spaces where we can show up as we are, listen when it matters, speak when it counts, and keep working toward something better without pretending it will ever be simple. If that is where we are headed, then maybe the world is not unraveling. Maybe it is growing up.
