Looking Back with Thanksgiving This Year

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I seriously cannot believe how fast this year went by for me, it’s already November and I’m feeling like, “where did the time go?”

I take a walk sometimes to clear my head so I don’t feel couped up and anxious.

The walks keep me pulling because I take with me some hand weights and talk to God.

This morning, I stopped and smelled the roses (literally, I stopped and smelled them) and they smelled so good that even after I started walking away, I came back to take another smell and say “thank you to God for those roses.”

As I was walking away I started reflecting back and thanking God for all sorts of things and it sort of inspired me to write this post.

I think a thankful list is a good idea to have so I can look back at it and remember all that God has done for me this year.

I’m Grateful for My Faith

My faith this year has been stripped naked and exposed for what it is and yet I am still stopping to smell God’s roses.

I believe that had what happen to me this year happened to me years ago, I may have just thrown in the towel and even blamed God.

But now, I’m so rooted in the fact that Jesus paid it all for me that I couldn’t possibly believe God is behind any bad in my life.

Bad thoughts have attacked me really hard this year but anything that tried to come against the goodness of God just didn’t compute at all.

It’s almost confusing (for lack of a better word) to see any bad thing in the character of God once you understand His grace the way I have in Bible School.

I’m grateful my faith in His character and His Word stands despite anything falling down around me this year.

I believe with all my heart that He’s going to turn any bad to good and He’s restoring anything that is lost in greater quality and/or quantity.

I’m Grateful for My Gorgeous House

When I bought this house over a year ago I told anyone who would listen to me that God was going to Supernaturally pay off my house in record time – and I still believe that to this day.

Despite all the crap that has happened this year, God has made sure that every single month His house payment is made!

I believe that Supernaturally, He’s going to pay this house off in record time no matter what because it was never about me or what I do but about Him and His grace.

I’m Grateful for My New Teeth

For years I asked the Lord for teeth because I was missing some because of mistakes I had made in my past.

I told Him I knew He could grow them if He had too but I wanted new teeth.

I kept confessing that my teeth would come! And this year, God made a way!

I can smile big despite anything going on in my life right now because these teeth remind me how faithful God is!

I’m Grateful for Like-Minded Trichsters

Shortly after starting this blog I had run into a like-minded Trichster named Mai Mai.

The funny thing about running into Mai Mai was I had recently been seeking the Lord over starting my own group for people of faith because I was noticing that it wasn’t always a well received subject in larger groups.

My faith is a big part of who I am and not being able to express that was difficult and then along comes Mai Mai and she was bold as a lion about her faith in God helping her overcome Trich.

Mai Mai is very special, she’s has been free from Trichotillomania for over 12 years and she was exactly the sort of person that I needed to meet at this point in my life.

She was a Divine appointment from God that I’m so grateful for this year.

Here I was believing that I would overcome Trichotillomania by faith and then I found her, and she had a blog too.

We started a group together where we could share our faith and encourage others wanting to overcome Trichotillomania.

It’s been such a blessing in my life being around like-minded people who are dealing with the same things.

I’m Grateful for My Hairdresser

For years I hated going to the hair dresser because I really just didn’t’ want to explain why my hair was the way it was.

I don’t talk much to anyone about my Trich but it’s hard to hide it from a hairdresser, right?

This year I finally worked up the nerve to make an appointment with a real pro.

I waited 5 weeks to even get in to see her (because she’s the best in town) and at the last minute she cancelled – I was distraught to say the least because I had been working up my nerve and rehearsing my Trichy speech this whole time.

BUT she was more than worth the wait when she finally got to see me!

Once I came clean to her, she was very cool and she had a lot of workarounds to help me style it in a way that wasn’t even noticeable.

All these years I had such anxiety over a visit to a hairdresser and all that melted away in 3 hours with her.

Yes, it took her 3 hours to fix it!

But it was SO worth it and I’m so grateful for what she did and what she continues to do!

I go back every 6 weeks regularly now to see her and she keeps my split ends away because those drive me crazy!

I would like to encourage you to be open about your Trichotillomania with your hairdresser if you can because it’s freeing when that stress of visiting the hairdresser is finally gone.

I’m Grateful for My Puppy, Blossom

A couple months ago I was thinking to myself how I would really enjoy having another dog.

I love having a dog, I feel like dogs just make life a little more chill and they love you just because.

The way things have been going this year, I figured it probably wasn’t the best time to get another dog, even though I really would like two.

I just like dogs! I wanted a bigger dog because my other guy is just a wiener-sheltie mix, not very scary but super cute.

Well, God gives us the desires of our heart because just last week my daughter walked in with this…

She’s the most awesome little puppy, she’s black lab/ German shepherd mix – she’s gonna be big just like I wanted!

She’s gets along great with my other dog and she’s a GIRL! We seriously need some girls around here, we’re outnumbered.

I’m so grateful for her, she’s the perfect gift – she was FREE because my neighbor couldn’t keep her!

I’m Grateful for HabitAware

Earlier this year I made a confession of faith that God was going to make a way for me to overcome Trich because I was doing it subconsciously unaware.

I would catch myself long after I started pulling and feel like crap about it.

I really wanted to stop but wasn’t sure how I was going to stop what I wasn’t aware was happening?

That’s when HabitAware came into my newsfeed and things haven’t been the same since.

After only 3 months of using their bracelets, I have awareness of where my hands are and I’ve been able to redirect them in more positive ways.

And as if that wasn’t cool enough, the co-creator of the bracelets has been so supportive of me and my journey to overcoming Trich.

I’ve been in contact with them this whole time and they’ve been more than receptive to feedback about their product.

They’ve been kind enough to feature me on their Instagram account during #BFRBAwarenessweek which was such an amazing experience to say the least.

I’ve just been so touched by their support, encouragement, interest and generosity since crossing paths with them.

I’m Grateful I Started This Blog

Which brings me to how grateful I am that I started this blog this year.

I just wanted a way to document my journey to Overcoming Trich and help encourage others and it’s been so rewarding and healing for me.

I created a journal, I’ve made a lot of friends, I’ve found products that help me – it’s cool to look back and see the support this blog has brought to me.

If I encourage anyone to do anything, it would just be to start confessing you’re going to overcome this and begin documenting the recovery process in some way. It doesn’t have to be a blog, it could be a diary or journal, but write it down!

The documentation is motivation to keep going!

Being able to look back and see what I’ve been through this year and how much progress I’ve made has been really awesome and it gives me the faith to keep moving forward until I make a complete recovery.