A friend of mine who was desperately in need of a new heart, got one last night! When I got the word, I was so excited for her and I was wondering what it would be like for her (you know, based on all of the crazy stories you hear sometimes) what she would experience, if anything, when they removed her heart and replaced it with the one that her donor blessed her with. That got me thinking about near death experiences, and then the phrase “near life experience” popped into my head.
I got to thinking……how many of us are having near life experiences? We are not dead, but only nearly living because of our hair loss.
[pullquote align=”right”]This is it-this is the only life you get! I want to encourage you today, whatever you do and however you manage your hair loss[/pullquote]It frustrates me, and saddens me that we are losing our hair-by the month, by the week, and by the day- and in most cases there isn’t a thing we can do to stop it. But what’s worse, is that we allow it to ruin us, destroy our lives and who we are! We forget who we were before our hair loss. We hide the fun-loving, and outgoing person we were (AND STILL ARE!!) away because the last thing we want to happen is to have attention drawn to us. Our love life (dating, marriage, and yes,sex) screeches to a slow halt because we can’t find an ounce of sexiness to draw on. We stop being athletic. We stop swimming in the pool with our kids! How dare these hairs destroy us this way?? We don’t laugh enough because we’re too sad. We push away from our friends because we fear they might not accept us. We limit ourselves professionally because we think-“who wants to hire a practically bald woman?”. Our artistic juices stop flowing because we feel so empty inside that there’s nothing to pour out. We turn our husbands down when he wants to go to his office Christmas party-are you kidding, spend all that time getting ready just to still hate my hair, and feel ugly? We are embarrassed to be seen without a headcovering-and it’s not for religious reasons! Why are we letting this happen? We are draining ourselves emotionally, spiritually and mentally just to get the things and events that we can’t avoid doing.
Have you ever heard of a cancer patient who gets their diagnosis and then sits around waiting to die? Maybe some do, but it’s the people who fight it with all they are to the bitter end who inspire us, who we identify with. Maybe this isn’t literally killing us, but it’s certainly taking our lives, and we’re giving it permission. We don’t know what to do, so we surrender, we give in and give up. Most of us would say that our character consists of that “fighting” disposition-we’re fiery, feisty, and not going to take this laying down, but it robs us slowly, and I’m not even sure we realize it’s happening. I am that feisty, fiery lady who refuses to take this lying down, and I decided years ago that this was not going to win. I”m certainly not the Pollyanna type, I have my down days, ugly days and fat days, but I have a husband I love and together we have three daughters who need me to model confidence, beauty-in whatever form that comes in and positiveness. I want them to grow up and remember me as fun, lively and passionate. This is it-this is the only life you get! I want to encourage you today, whatever you do and however you manage your hair loss….do it well, hold your head high, and don’t nearly live. LIVE!
