HELLO LITTLE HAIRBALLS!
Welcome to HAUS of HAIRROR and I’m so excited to meet all of you! First things first, I’m Jennifer! I’m 22 years old and I absolutely love hair (duh). I’m a Pisces (I don’t know what that means but apparently I’m a fish); I love to crochet and scrap book; and I actively work towards recovery and a mindfulness-based life.
Believe it or not, I used to be a Child & Youth Care Worker. My biggest goal in my life has always been to do whatever I can to help people. I love kids and I thought that it was the perfect option, especially because I had been working with kids since I was 10/11 years old. Why wouldn’t I enjoy it, right? So, I enrolled in Sheridan College after high school and began my CYC training in September 2015. Honestly, I loved it and I even still miss it. The thing is, it takes a certain kind of person to be a child & youth care worker and I’ve learned through trial and error that as much as I wanted to help those kids, I had to step away so that I could be the kind of person that could actually support them. As much as I loved it, I was suffering with depression, anxiety, and anorexia nervosa, and I needed someone to support me. I couldn’t be strong for those kids because I couldn’t be strong for myself.
One thing you’ll learn very quickly about me is that I’m unapologetically honest. I believe that honesty is the only way to truly move forward with life and build relationships that are meaningful. I’m not afraid to open up about the darker parts of my life because I don’t want to be held back by them anymore. Darkness and dishonesty breed stigmatization to “issues” that people consistently experience throughout their lives and I refuse to contribute to stigma that holds people back from being who they are. It’s time to allow people to be honest no matter what is troubling them – it’s the only way that any of us have a real shot at life.
So yeah, I have anorexia and I’m working on recovering. It’s a long process and I have a great support team to aid me. Because I’ve been honest, I’ve gotten access to therapy and treatment and I’m proud to say that I’m recovering – I didn’t that may ever happen and here I am. I’ve learned so much from my therapist, doctors from the treatment unit, my parents and from myself. I’ve learned so much about my morals, my beliefs, and who I am as a person – I’ve evolved as a person. I define who I am – not my eating disorder. My point is, we all need to get a grip on ourselves and be honest with those around us, allowing us to accept every aspect of whom we are. Nothing is negative unless we make it so.
The weird thing is that I may have never fallen in love with hair had I not been diagnosed with anorexia and dropped out of Sheridan. All of these things that happened, I believed for so long that all of these things were negative and that only negative things would come from it. I allowed myself to sit in this bubble of negativity and I only got worse from there. Positive things can only happen when you’re willing to pop that bubble and experience everything in life that is good and negative. The positive in life cannot exist without the negative and you must accept both. With accepting these, I’ve been able to move forward, find new passion, fall in love, and gain new skills that I didn’t believe I would ever have. I am who I am because of ALL that has happened, not just the good moments. I’m not afraid to live anymore and I refuse to apologize for it.
That’s who I am – unapologetically myself.