Sunday 15 April 2012

It's all about confidence ...

And I seem to have completely lost mine at the moment.

Not in my treatment – that seems to be going very well.  But I’ve definitely lost significant confidence in myself and the way I look, and will look in the coming weeks and months.

Mr P. and I went to a wedding this weekend and I met lots of people that I hadn’t met before. People who may, or may not, have known that I have cancer but probably didn’t realise that I was wearing a wig.

Now, I’ve already said that I’m not ‘wig confident’. Even though it is a good wig, I’m not able to move my head completely naturally, style it in the way I would really like, and I live in permanent fear of it slipping or someone knocking it off.  So being in a room full of (albeit lovely and friendly) people who with increasingly drunken exuberance hugged me, kissed me and generally flailed their arms in my direction on the dance floor, filled me with unmitigated terror!

Obviously with close friends or people who are aware of the situation I could say ‘please don’t touch my hair or put your arms round my shoulders’ but with people I’ve only just met that would have been impossible and churlish.

Consequently, I felt like a massive party pooper in wanting to keep out of the way of the ‘action’. Anyone who knows me well will know that this is completely at odds with my natural behaviour. I’m normally right in the thick of it, at the heart of the chaos – having very likely started it (or egged someone else on!)

I hate feeling like this and subjecting Mr P. to it too. His natural ebullience is legendary, so I then end up feeling guilty because neither of us is able to completely relax and be ourselves.  But I can’t help it. Rightly or wrongly, so much of our self-esteem is determined by how we feel about ourselves and our appearance. 

In honesty, I actually feel much more comfortable in just a scarf or hat because then there’s no pretence.  However, knowing that I’ll probably lose my eyebrows and lovely long eyelashes over the course of the next three treatments also really upsets me.  And yes, I know this is sheer, shallow vanity but at least I admit it!

2 comments:

  1. Kate, anyone would think you were brought up a Catholic. Stop feeling guilty. It's all absolutely natural to feel like that and people are less judgemental than you think - especially if they are drunk and at a wedding, they probably won't even notice if you're holding back a bit. Haven't met Mr P, obviously, but he sounds like a wonderful guy. I am sure he can cope if he feels he has to curb his ebullity (isn't that a great word?) for what will seem like a very short while when you look back on it. Give yourself a break - and a few chocolatesxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lucy

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  2. Depending on how often you wear your wigs ensure that you wash them at least twice a month. quality synthetic lace front wigs Human hair that is pure, free from perming chemicals, not bleached and it is all virgin can last for a very long time and it hardly breaks.

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