Hats, hats and more hats

It was like Christmas.

I was so excited to receive this parcel, it really did remind me of a small child on Christmas day, running to the tree to rip open all the wrapping and boxes to see what lay within.

It was a parcel that I had been expecting. I had ordered many coloured hats from my favourite hat seller in the US and they had arrived.

I could barely control myself as I tore into the envelope.

And I was not disappointed.

 

All of them fit and were exactly as I had hoped for. Colourful and bright and able to be matched with many of my outfits.

You see there is joy within Alopecia!! Just not where you would expect to find it.

 

Wet hair

Sunday night used to be bath and hair wash night - remember?

Ok well I wash a little more regular than that, however hair wash is still once a week and usually on a Sunday. Last night was no different.

So I washed and conditioned my hair with the special "second" hair lotions and let it dry in the shower, like usual. However somehow I managed to hang it up slightly differently. As a consequence when I woke this morning, I was dismayed to find that it was still wet! Yikes.

The hair itself had actually dried but the band inside which holds the wig onto the head was still damp. Really nastily damp. This meant I had to wear what felt like a wet dish cloth round my head to go to work. Yak!

I debated my options. Wear a hat. Wear a new wig. Go bald. 

In the end I went for the easy and yet obvious choice. The wet one.

It was awful.

For the first few hours of the day, I felt this squelchy damp ring around my head. really unpleasant. By lunch time I think I had steamed it dry, but for the first few hours of the day, I grinned and bore it.

Of course no one in the meeting room had a clue.

It made me also wonder, what other people had going on to them, that I had no clue about. Surely I was not the only one with a secret.

Sigh, I guess there is no way of knowing.

Oh well its all dry now. Better luck next Sunday!

2.5 lies a day?

I was listening to my podcast this morning and it was an article on lying.
It says the average person lies 2.5 times a day, although older people lie less with around 1.5 lies.
Does that sound familiar?

Of course one can debate, well what exactly constitutes a lie, but surely just by asking that question, we are actually suggesting we do lie, but only slightly.

So I guess if I text someone to say "on my way", when the reality is that I am brushing my teeth just before I leave, this is actully a lie, so maybe 2.5 lies a day is actually not bad at all.

The article suggested women lie, in general, to ensure harmony and social living, whereas as men tend to lie as an exaggeration or a form of bragging. Truth in that?

So today I am going to watch my lies, lets hope I keep under the 2.5!!

Why pink tights matter

It took me till I was 40 to really understand that I was "enough".

I realised literally on my 40th birthday, that I am a good person, I am kind and I have good intent. I work hard and do my best to deliver on my committments. And if that isn't enough for others, lets talk about it, but you know what, it is good enough for me. I am enough!

It took me till 40 to get that.

So last week when asked to open a female leader event, I decided to tell that story.

And I chose to do it wearing pink tights!.

You see pink tights are funky and funny and maybe not very common in a corporate world but they are me, so I wear them with pride.

I wore them with pride that day too and my message was two fold:

1. What are your pink tights and why are you not wearing them?
2. Are you waiting til 40 to be at your best?


I closed the event with a fabulous quote from Dolly Parton. Hope you like it!

Asking for help

A few years ago, I was struggling with a personal issue and it was dragging me down. I remember feeling alone and helpless. A colleague noticed this and would not let me off the hook, she sat with me until I told her what was going on and then she insisted we found a solution together. And you know what I learned from that? Help is out there. You just need to look for it.

I was too proud and too shy to ask for help. I thought I needed to do things on my own. I thought no one could help. I felt I had to own and solve my own problems.

The brainstorming we had at that time changed everything. We came up with new ideas and do you know what, one idea turned the situation around.

The best thing is, that 4 years later, that solution still helps. That idea lives on and the concept that we co-created could not have been found alone. Innovative and sustainable.

So why I am telling this story, well many years later I find myself in a similar situation. My husband and I feel helpless but know we can not just sit there and let life take its course. So remembering the brainstorming back then, we underwent a similar exercise together and came up with many ways to approach the problem.

We decided to try everything, engage everyone, enlist help and persist until things change.

Right now we are in the thick of it, but you know what it feels good. We are in control and helping to find the right outcome. We are not accepting no for an answer and we are not giving up when one door closes.

I feel lucky that I had that colleague (now friend) and I feel lucky that this time I am not letting pride get in the way. I need help and until I get it, I will not give up.

First appearance!

I will spare you the details of why, but I nearly missed something today.

However due to input from wonderful friends, and consistent and gentle persuasion from my hubbie, we made it happen.

Today my 8 year old took part in a concert for the first time. She has been having a flute lesson a week since August, and she is making progress  As a consequence, she was invited to play a part in the concert.

Being unmusical and not having an understanding of the importance of being part of something like this, quite frankly, I struggled rearranging long planned events to ensure she got to play her part.

However things got rearranged and she took part.

Oh my word, what I nearly missed.

I nearly missed a great mummy moment. I was so proud of her standing up there alone, I was shouting (from the inside only) hey everyone, see that girl, she is mine, isn't she amazing.

She truly was. She was the youngest in the event and she was brilliant.

My heart was bursting with pride and my body full of emotion. And that was just me.

She was concentrated, determined, confident and skilled. She oozed serenity and calmness.

She blew us away.

I am so glad I got to be part of this moment. This is one for the memory bank.

Wonderful, wonderful!