Alopecia, my dear friend...

Alopecia, my dear friend, 

this blog article is mostly for you and my dear readers. 

I haven't written any updates about you, my friend Alopecia, since I was diagnosed in March, and I must say that it is good to be focused on other layers of my life as well and move forward.

My friend Alopecia, you are still with me, and that's alright.

Now let's get some updates. By the doctor's conclusion, you came into my life because of an iron deficiency in my body, and that is no longer the situation. Yay! Isn't that wonderful news?! You are smiling (I know you are... ) Thank you for that.

As I said, you are still here, but my iron improved very well and I might continue to take one more dose of 2 months of iron tablets in order to reach a point in my organism that will make my hair grow again.  Sometimes I look in the mirror and it seems like I'm losing more hair, other times it looks like it's growing, and it's tough to keep up with that, you know?! One thing I noticed lately is that if the hair is growing, it is white. So cute!

In between all that, I want to share something deeper with you about this trip. I consider it a trip to a beautiful destination where I am becoming a better person, at least to myself.

Since I've been diagnosed with alopecia, different thoughts, situations, and feelings have come into my life.

Let me share one of my interesting examples: 

Walking in the streets is not the same anymore, as I see the look other people give me, either with regret or care. My emotions can go up and down very quickly or even slowly; I start to realise that people are kinder to me because of the way that I look, and at the same time, I decided to become kinder as well, to people and to myself. There's magic in these simple moments.

It makes me go further with a better me, and I had to get this amazing friend (alopecia) to recognise that there is still more of me that can be better.

It leaves me thinking of people who are going through this Alopecia journey like me but also other illnesses and/or diseases that has them losing their hair or cutting it. More importantly, I am left wondering about how they feel and live their lives. I'm travelling on a journey that I did not plan and I would like to know more about other people that are going through the same/similar experience or have been in this kind of situation before. 

Let me share a video that I made recently, where I'm shaving my hair alone! Yes, alone, because when I had my funky hairstyle I couldn't make it. (Here's another great achievement due to my friend Alopecia!) 

Nowadays, every single Friday, I shave my head to decrease the appearance of hair emptiness at the front that I have. I actually started to think that the fact that my iron levels are good now and I'm still taking tablets to increase the empty areas to grow, my other areas with hair are growing like mad lol. It seems to me that it is growing faster ehehehhe... 

Follow me on my Instagram and see my videos and pictures from actual moments every week. 

Life is always full of surprises. Make sure that you are enjoying the ride.

 

Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder of Women Flix  and Founder of Beautifly Digital

https://msha.ke/yolabastos/

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! 

Women Flix Limited, is a company limited by guarantee, was incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).

The Best Ways to Use Positive Affirmations to Manage Stress

Stress is an inevitable part of life. However, when stress levels remain high, they can start to have a detrimental effect on both your emotional and physical well-being. It is imperative to find ways to manage stress and repeating positive affirmations is a way for you to increase feelings of inner peace, and to combat daily stress. The idea is to take the positive statements of what you want to manifest in your life and repeat them enough that they become a part of how you think and see the world. 

Here are some of the best ways to use positive affirmations to help you manage stress.

Repetition

The most popular way that you can harness the power of affirmations is by merely repeating the affirmation to yourself regularly. Saying them out loud to yourself several times a day, in the mornings or evenings, can be incredibly useful. When you repeat them out loud, you hear them more clearly, which can make them more effective than if you were to repeat them to yourself mentally.

Do-It-Yourself Recording

To hear your affirmations more times throughout the day, you can record yourself repeating the positive affirmations and play the recording while you are driving, when you’re reading in the evenings, or when you are exercising. Be sure to talk in a calm voice, and consider playing your favourite soothing music in the background. DIY recordings are a great way to create a tailor-made experience for your specific needs. 

Use Post-It Notes

A fun way to utilize your positive affirmations daily is by writing them down on Post-It Notes and placing them around your house to provide you with positive messages throughout the day. You can put them on the refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, and other places that you see frequently. This technique can be incredibly useful on its own, or you can use it with some of the other affirmation techniques as a reinforcement.

Self-Hypnosis

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your positive affirmations dramatically, you can use self-hypnosis with them. Self-hypnosis is a way to cement your affirmations into your subconscious thinking much quicker than merely repeating them when you are in your normal conscious state.

While not all positive affirmations will be helpful in helping you relieve stress, most of them can effectively transition you into a better frame of mind and help you build resilience and help you find enjoyment in your life. 




Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder Women Flix 
 yolabastos@womenflix.org 
https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos 

 Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! 

 Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).

How to Create Positive Affirmations

Whether you believe it or not, you can attract anything in your life that you give attention to, because like attracts like. Positive affirmations are a powerful tool that can make the opposite happen. By believing in a thought or sentence and repeating it to yourself regularly, you have the power to attract more positivity to your life.

Your words are incredibly powerful, and when done correctly, positive affirmations can be an impactful tool that will help you find the power to accomplish things that you didn't think was possible. However, they only work if you believe them. Here's how to create positive affirmations that you can believe in and achieve all your life's greatest desires.

Identify What You Want

To get started writing a positive affirmation for your life, you have to think about what you really want. Think about what would make your life happier and write those thoughts down. The essential part of creating positive affirmations is ensuring that you are completely clear about what you want without worrying about the when or the how.

List the Attributes You’ll Need

When you've identified what you want, the next step is determining the attributes that you'll need to achieve your goal. You should list between four and six things. Your attributes are the things that you need to be, rather than the things that you need to do. Once you've written these out, circle a few that you believe to be the most essential attributes that you will need to embody to reach your goal.

Write Your Affirmation

Once you have your desires and attributes written down, it's time to create your affirmation. You want to create a statement that is between one and two sentences, and that states the goal and attributes in a positive and empowering way. This can be challenging, so you should write down some ideas as they come to you and repeat them out loud.

Practice Your New Affirmation

Now that you’ve created an affirmation, it’s time to practice it and repeat it often. You want to be sure to repeat your affirmations every day. To help you remember to say your statements you set a reminder on your phone, you can set your phone's background to a picture of your affirmation, so you see it every time you use your phone, or you can put them on Post-Its and place them around your home or office. Do whatever works for you.

Affirmations are incredibly helpful in helping you achieve your desires as long as you do them correctly. You have the power to use your mind to create the future you desire. 

Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder Women Flix 

 yolabastos@womenflix.org 

https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos 

 Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! 

 Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).