Hello fellow trichsters! I am Cheryn Salazar, author of two books which include my own experience with trichotillomania as well as my being a parent of two children with trich. I am one of the founding members of the Trichotillomania Learning Center (TLC) since 1991, and an attendee of almost every annual TLC retreat, which brings me to the reason I am writing this blog.
I have decided to compile a book of “humorous stories” of things that have happened to people with “trich”. This might sound odd to some of you, so let me explain why I think this is a great idea!
In the early 90’s while standing around a campfire at the first TLC retreat in the Santa Cruz mountains, a group of us were laughing in hysterics, along with tears of healing, as we shared our “horror” stories to each other that had brought us such pain and shame in the past. One woman told of how when she was falling head first off her bike, more concerned that her wig would fly off then her elbows get skinned up, she clasped her fingers around her head. A woman who had witnessed the whole thing came over to see if she was alright and commented how amazed she was that the woman had the where-with-all to cover her brain! We broke out laughing hysterically, empathizing with this woman’s story. I then shared one of my stories how after giving birth to my first child, within minutes I anxiously waddle over to a mirror to make sure my eyebrows and eye make-up were still on. One of my most important experiences in life was ripped off due to my fear of being exposed. Around the campfire we shared deep laughter over situations that had been so traumatic. What an unexpected wonderful experience!
We left changed people. I didn’t understand why it was so powerful, I just knew it was, and now I realize that sharing these stories that had brought us so much shame and pain was very cleansing and unifying. These fellow sufferers understood my emotions I went through like no one ever had before. A deep bond had been formed. Now 17 years later I am a transformed person who is free from all that negativity that used to define me.
Sharing these stories that used to cause so much pain and shame, now became sources of emotional healing.
As you can probably tell, I have learned the value of humor, and am now asking stories to be sent to me with the idea of being included in this first book, with hopefully more to follow. I believe that laughter is healthy, and “once you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. I hope you find the same to be true for you.
Please send all stories to my email address: cheryns@cheryn.com. You may keep your anonymity if you choose, but please at least reveal a first name and the state you live in. You can also include an email, if you would like folks to be able to contact you.
All profit made from the sales of this book will benefit the Trichotillomania Learning Center (at www.trich.org), which will aid in supporting more research, finding better answers, expanding resources,as well as bringing awareness to a world that still holds many, many sufferers. Sadly, many if not most sufferers still live in shame and isolation, thinking that there is no name for what they do, nor another person who pulls out their hair.
Again, email your stories to cheryns@cheryn.com!
Tags: Add new tag, hair pulling, tlc, trich, Trichotillomania
September 24, 2008 at 3:50 am
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