Have you ever played whack-a-mole? It’s that arcade game with lots of holes with “moles” in them that will pop their heads up at random times. Your mission as the player is to take a big mallet and whack the moles on the heads whenever they pop up. If you hit enough of them before they pop back into their holes, you win.
I used to love that game. It’s silly and funny and somehow very satisfying to just give something a good whack once in a while. I’m smiling thinking of it.
I realized that the alopecia areata experience has been like its own game of whack-a-mole in a number of ways. Oh, you know I love analogies. Obviously, there’s the physical level: you have hair. A spot pops up. You whack it with all your might (shots, creams, whatever), but look out – another one may pop up soon and you aren’t sure exactly where it’s going to come from. And so, the game goes on.
There’s the mental level: thoughts and concerns pop up at various times, and you fend them off to the best of your ability. You try to remember truths about yourself and about life. You take a deep breath and try not to be a fortune teller predicting all kinds of negativity for the future. You practice acceptance and maintaining equilibrium.
There’s the emotional level: hurt, sadness, fear and longing can raise their heads out of nowhere, sometimes when you least expect it. This is when you reach out for comfort, let the tears flow through and out of you, pray, and remember and try to refocus on what you are grateful for instead of what you don’t have.
To tell you the truth, sometimes I win these mental and emotional games, but other times I’m just not able to respond fast enough to the thoughts or feelings before it seems like I’ve lost the round.
The thing is this is an ongoing matchup – round after round after round. It helps me to remember that, just like in any game, skill increases with practice. I will continue to get better at this over time. In fact, I already am, and that is a huge encouragement to me.
Do you ever feel like you are playing a prolonged game of whack-a-mole around some issue in your life? What helps you in the midst of it?
