A former bloggers look back

For those of you who remember, I used to have a blog, but which now unfortunately does not exist. Around 2017-18, blogg.no deleted my blog, when they renewed themselves. I had been told in advance to make some move, if it would continue to exist. I prioritized time for school because we had almost no free time and before I knew it, it was too late. It is sad that it does not exist now, but at the same time that blog had fulfilled its purpose.

When I created my blog in the summer of 2011, I had just finished folk high school. The year I thought was going to be one of my best, but which instead ended up being one of my worst.

My body reacted strongly to the stresses and I lost 80% of my hair. That summer I had to start with a wig to cover the spots on my scalp. Alopecia is the name of this hair disease and I have lived with it ever since, but today I have it under control. I then decided to create a blog to tell frankly about the hair disease I was diagnosed with shortly after I got home. My blog was then named "alopecia" after the hair disease.

My hair grew back when the adrenaline had finally calmed down, and slowly but surely (after many overdoses of zinc), my hair came back but a little thinner.

I had just turned 20 and I remember how humiliating it was and suddenly not having the hair I had always been so known to have. It was long and thick that many over the years envied me for and suddenly it was taken away from me.

Not only did I feel like I was losing my identity, but also people I thought were going to be there for me turned out to be the exact opposite of what I thought and when I needed them the most. I lost a lot, but in retrospect I see that it was a cleansing that was necessary, I would reach a new level and a better version of myself, if I then chose it.

It was a painful chapter of my life that made me a victim in many ways and that could have made me very bitter, but I did not allow myself to play that role afterwards. I chose to feel the sadness and the feelings and rather use that experience for something better and learn from it instead of it taking root in me as hatred or bitterness or letting me define the event.

I chose to turn the shit I had been given into fertilizer, so I could grow something new and better for myself in the future.

Slowly but surely, I rebuilt myself by telling straight out, brutally and raw how I felt, and that was when I really learned the value with honesty and vulnerability.

"The truth will set you free" and I became free.

My blog was quickly noticed and it was chosen for a weekend for something called "Weekend blog", and that was when my blog took off. When autumn came, my hair finally started to grow back. I got a new and short weld and a new and tougher Kristina slowly but surely took shape.

After I got my hair back, I started writing more about topics that occupied me, and several of the posts were read by many.

In retrospect, alopecia is one of the best things that could happen to me, because if I did not get that disease, I would not find that I enjoyed writing as much as I actually do, or that hats looked good on me (hehe) and that short hair fit my face shape. But the most important lesson was that I was not my hair. I developed more empathy for myself and others who were in the same situation and that with my experiences, I could help others, just by reading my words. It was like and suddenly getting some kind of superpowers.

It's been 10 years since that chapter of my life happened, and a lot has happened since then as well.

Now finally I have a new website that I can use for more things than I did with the previous one. Now I also know that this will not be deleted in the future, unless I choose it myself.

I look forward to sharing more of my life with you again.

This time, the main theme will not be alopecia either. There will definitely be a focus on health, when I received a new diagnosis again last year. IBS - irritable bowel syndrome.

I've spent a year stabilizing after that, and it's only now that I have the surplus needed to show you what I'm good at.

-Kristina