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First-Day Jitters
Oh man. It’s the first day of school. You’re nervous about another school year. And holy cow, it’s that cute boy from your math class that you still have to work up to courage to talk to. You aren’t in a group, which is a BIG problem. How do you cope with social weirdness?
Find Other Loners
Chances are, others are feeling lonely and awkward. Help them out by just going up to them and saying hi. You might hit it off!
Jump into Groups
If you overhear a group talking about something you like, talk to them.
Forget About Baldness
As alopecian Shelby Ortiz said,
”Hair is an accessory, not a neccessity .”
Just act normal. I mean seriously, you are practically normal. See my post What Sets Me Apart for more insight on that topic.
Be Yourself!
Let nothing stop you from being you. Remember, you are a unicorn in a sea of horses. Embrace the horn!
Even if school’s already started, just retain these facts. Maybe you can rehash it next year!
Universe-al Mantras
When shunned by others, alopecians can feel alone in the universe. Just remember these:
If astronauts can do it, so can you.
The classic ”I can do it” saying with an intergalactic twist.
You’re a tiny speck in the universe–but everyone else is too.
Never forget that even if you’re bald, it doesn’t affect your substantialness.
Stars died to make you.
It’s true; supernovae provided the materials to make our Sun, Earth, and fellow bald observers.
You are born from a nebula. Go ahead and shine as bright as one.
Simple. You can be awesome.
Disorientation is always on the ISS.
If you feel out of whack, just remember that astronauts feel this harder.
An asteroid created the Moon.
Good things can sprout from the bad.
You are an astronaut on spaceship Earth.
Anyone can reach for the stars.
Different
We are so different
But so alike
Everything isn’t
That hard to dislike
But we push forward
We can strive
Our boats float shoreward
Towards good life
This determination
Is our prime defense
Against discrimination
And offense.
Let the bad words bounce off you
And soak the good ones in
You cannot let the bullying get to
Your feelings kept within
Alopecia is a blessing
It cannot be called a curse
Some just can’t help expressing
How they dislike the diverse.
But we are strong, no dismiss
And we can overcome no less
Then climbing out of the abyss
Of hard, cold, pressing aggress.
Don’t be afraid to look,
To see how you can achieve
The respect which many can
What sets me apart?
What sets me apart?
That’s what I want to know.
What sets me apart?
On the inside, nothing goes.
I run and bike and play,
Just like any other kid.
Go to school all weekdays,
And sleep all night in bed.
But it all stops from the neck up,
From my chin up to the top.
For there is nothing, even right closeup,
Not any flouncy crop.
That’s all that sets me apart.
Just that one little thing.
Yet small children, when they see me, start.
They don’t realize that it stings.
Alopecia areata is not a bad affair
And I don’t want a cure.
But some people just don’t care
And make me feel like some dull ore.
Some people think I’m cancerous
And ask about my treatments.
But alopecia is quite harmless
And that sparks disagreements.
I think that people should be nice
And think not that we are bad.
For insults cause much thin ice
And compliments are better had.
The world seems to not realize
That we are rising stars.
They try not to idealize
The novel and the bizarre.
But we are not too different, you see,
Apart from strands of hair.
Since underneath we can agree
We are all uniform there.
Why?
Today I’ve come up with a poem of haikus kind of like Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow. Here goes nothing!
That Gender Thing
I’m sure that for Alopecians, everyone has that moment when someone calls you the gender you aren’t , especially for girls. Here are two moments where someone called me a boy, and a bonus incident.
