New Year, Old Trichs

Last year, I lost a lot of loved ones and went through a very hard post-partum depression because of my husband’s job.

My husband works in management in the restaurant business and that was rocked hard last year because of a lack of employees. He was working ALL THE TIME, I rarely saw him or knew when he was going to be off of work because of constant lack of staff. He worked 86 in ONE WEEK right before Christmas because his only other manager got COVID.

He was forced to work long hours, sometimes while sick, all to hold up that restaurant that he doesn’t even own.

All because he is a loyal, hard-working man in the hands of a corporation who could care less about him as a human being. The day of his Christmas party we were running fevers, the baby had been up all night with a horrid cough and he was STILL told he needed to throw a party for his employees…. while working DOUBLES all week long because he had no other manager.

When he told his boss how sick his baby was that day, he was mocked by his supervisor. He was basically FORCED to have this party for his employees while he worked through it with a sick family. I had to pick up the food, the decor, the prizes for this party with my sick infant in tow.

That night was my last straw with these folks.

I was making a resume, and I was getting my husband out of there.

For months and months, we had been praying and it was time! We both felt peace with it so we moved forward and for two days I sent out his resume ONLY to the jobs that would be a good fit.

We were holding on to the promises of God and on January 1st, at the start of the new year, my husband was offered a higher paying job, 5 minutes from home and he doesn’t have to be in charge of anyone. He can just be a regular employee who is only responsible for himself. That’s what he needs right now.

Where we live, no one wants to work in the restaurant industry for whatever reason. There’s a huge lack of workers and being a manager is hard because you literally have to pick up the slack of multiple people. As a manager, he got zero part of the tips that came in from customers, and some days my husband was the only guy serving the customers.

There were days when I would come in and work WITH my baby on my back, sometimes washing dishes or rolling tortillas for hours and I didn’t even work there.

Enough was enough. He had to endure those things because he would have stayed if he hadn’t. He’s too loyal to just quit somewhere where he’s being treated bad. He has abused his whole life and abused people don’t always recognize what abuse is. His boss has known him for a very long time, he knows how to manipulate my husband.

Even when my husband gave him two weeks his abusers there tried to scare him into staying, but he knew it’s time. After their scare tactics, they tried to give him more money, vacation, promises of better employment conditions but God has called him out of Egypt to a better place.

With my husband working ALL THE TIME, I have been home alone for months on my own taking care of our new baby and the other children. That has not been good for my mental health at all. My hair pulling has gotten so bad because I have zero time for me.

Sometime last year, I got new HabitAware bracelets that I gave up on because I quit trying. I just didn’t care anymore about myself. I went into a really deep depression and I was all alone caring for 4 kids.

I stopped doing all the things I knew helped me with my trichotillomania.

That’s why there haven’t been many blog posts on here, that’s why I just disappeared from my Facebook groups.

I’m ready to start a new year, a year where I rest.

It just so happened that Joseph Prince that 2022 was going to be a year of rest and acceleration on God’s part. It was exactly what I needed to hear because it was confirmation that I needed to rest and take care of my mental health this year.

I have gotten back into the habit of reading and taking communion daily.

I recently subscribed to Joseph Prince’s unlimited sermons on this app and I’ve just been feeding on encouraging words for the past couple of weeks.

All this has really helped my mood and I’m ready to start little by little doing the things I know work to help me stop pulling.

I bought some new hair clips to help me with my awareness. For some reason, a hair clip in the way will bring my attention to my habit and it also gives me something to play with that’s not my hair.

I’m trying to cut back on my sugar intake because that’s always a problem. I don’t usually do sugar but with the holidays just passing it was hard to resist the many sweets. My mom brought a whole arsenal of cookies and sweetbreads with her this Christmas. So, I’ve stopped indulging in these things that I know trigger my trichotillomania.

I need to get consistent about taking my CBD oil again, I really have just given up on all the things I knew helped because I had no time last year to take care of myself.

I recently purchased my favorite brand of CBD oil and started taking it again. I don’t even know why I stopped. I stopped doing a lot of things I knew helped me.

Old Trichs Work Best

I had my trichotillomania under control for years and I know the things that help me I just quit doing them.

• Read and listen to encouraging messages
• Wearing hair clips and hair ties (awareness and blockage)
• Keep my HabitAware bracelets on (awareness)
• Be mindful of my diet (trigger) – a Trich Journal helps with this
• Take CBD Oil (sleep, mood, pms)
• Sleep, nap, rest (trigger)
• Try to be aware of my mood (trigger)

I’ll be checking in more because I do have a lot of thoughts running through my head that need to come out.

I want to blog about my progress through 2022 because I am super hopeful that it’s going to be a great year after two really awful ones.

Even taking a shower this morning I was thinking about how when I comb my scalp in the shower, it helps me. It calms me and feels good.

I was thinking about how my hands love to pull when I’m breastfeeding and driving in my car. Those are my two biggest PULL ZONES.

I need to get my head straight and blogging helps me sort the thoughts out. So I really hope to check back in more than I have even with just random thoughts like these.

Talk soon! Bless you in 2022!