Dear Family and Friends,
One gray November day, my nine year old son Max came up to me and whispered in my ear: “Hey Dad - I don’t think your secret is really a secret.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “Dad, everybody knows you wear a wig. It’s time to take it off.” Sometimes, when the truth is spoken in such plain words and in such innocence, it hits you like a huge fist smashing you in your gut. I actually felt Max's words in a way I couldn’t ignore. First, there was tremendous anxiety, then there was countless butterflies swirling in and around my stomach and then there was that fast shallow breathing that signals something we want to escape. But there is no escaping the truth. The TRUTH is my friends, that in 2009, plain and simple, it was a rough year- no ifs and or buts! It is this feeling that made me think about what 2009 has taught us: Better to confront reality than pretend it away to another day. It can be a real world thing: a mortgage default/foreclosure , a marriage and or a relationship problem, or a health problem you’ve been ignoring. OR, it can be an emotional thing:the fear of letting the world see who you really are, the fear of telling your significant other what you really want in your relationship, the fear of changing your life to take a more authentic road. When my son Max said – “It’s time to take it off” – he was right in more ways than he knew. The heaviest load we carry around is the dark negative emotions that truly weigh us down: insecurity, shame, guilt, fear, anger. These are not good feelings and I experienced all of them this year. If you have any of these feelings then I know you know how I feel and have been feeling for 20+ years.
Here is my story in a nutshell: I was a happy healthy normal invincible + cocky18 year old boy – until one morning I woke up with my hair on my pillow instead of on my head. It was quickly diagnosed as an autoimmune disease called Alopecia, which luckily has only one big effect: my body rejects all hair follicles. Not a big deal, from a logical perspective. But imagine the impact this has on an 18 year old boy/man. I had a weight problem, now a hair problem, and soon these started to rule my self-esteem and my emotional life. I’ve managed to conquer the weight issue after years of hard work and much help from others – and so, ridding myself of the hairpiece that has been my ball and chain, my handcuffs, my camouflage and my security blanket for all these years – for me, it is a final declaration of independence! It's my LIBERATION! In case you missed it: 2009 was just a plain ole ugly tough year!
2009 saw a huge number of people have to surrender to truth – with or without their own consent. The loss of homes we couldn’t afford, stock values based on bogus “fuzzy” math, companies that weren’t truly delivering value in today’s economy, even relationships that were based on security instead of respect and admiration. Sometimes – often – stepping into the truth is painful. But in the end, it is a blessing. It frees us up to live authentically, i my friends am choosing to live authentically.
So, let’s applaud the good that came from 2009: it gave us permission to walk with a lighter load – to shed the useless baggage we’ve been carrying around. For me, it is the insecurity and vanity of letting the world know my fairly innocuous secret: I have Alopecia. What will you abandon as we move into twenty-ten?( yes I‘m calling 2010: Twenty-ten!) Do you have some baggage you are ready to put down? Things that just don’t serve you well now that you are older and wiser?
Some people blossom late; some early; some over time – for me, it’s been a combination of all three. Today I AM FREE. Thank you Max. I hope I can grow from this into the man God had planned for me to be. Please take a look at my new photo’s and celebrate my new freedom with me. Let me know your thoughts. AND LASTLY: Let me “re-introduce” myself to you: Hi ! My name is Adam Helfman , some people call me Helfy, perhaps you will too. My heart over flows with love so please smile with me and have a Happy New Year! I wish for much abundance for everyone! Love you all…………
COURAGE: quality of being brave: the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action
LIBERATION: release, freeing
One gray November day, my nine year old son Max came up to me and whispered in my ear: “Hey Dad - I don’t think your secret is really a secret.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “Dad, everybody knows you wear a wig. It’s time to take it off.” Sometimes, when the truth is spoken in such plain words and in such innocence, it hits you like a huge fist smashing you in your gut. I actually felt Max's words in a way I couldn’t ignore. First, there was tremendous anxiety, then there was countless butterflies swirling in and around my stomach and then there was that fast shallow breathing that signals something we want to escape. But there is no escaping the truth. The TRUTH is my friends, that in 2009, plain and simple, it was a rough year- no ifs and or buts! It is this feeling that made me think about what 2009 has taught us: Better to confront reality than pretend it away to another day. It can be a real world thing: a mortgage default/foreclosure , a marriage and or a relationship problem, or a health problem you’ve been ignoring. OR, it can be an emotional thing:the fear of letting the world see who you really are, the fear of telling your significant other what you really want in your relationship, the fear of changing your life to take a more authentic road. When my son Max said – “It’s time to take it off” – he was right in more ways than he knew. The heaviest load we carry around is the dark negative emotions that truly weigh us down: insecurity, shame, guilt, fear, anger. These are not good feelings and I experienced all of them this year. If you have any of these feelings then I know you know how I feel and have been feeling for 20+ years.
Here is my story in a nutshell: I was a happy healthy normal invincible + cocky18 year old boy – until one morning I woke up with my hair on my pillow instead of on my head. It was quickly diagnosed as an autoimmune disease called Alopecia, which luckily has only one big effect: my body rejects all hair follicles. Not a big deal, from a logical perspective. But imagine the impact this has on an 18 year old boy/man. I had a weight problem, now a hair problem, and soon these started to rule my self-esteem and my emotional life. I’ve managed to conquer the weight issue after years of hard work and much help from others – and so, ridding myself of the hairpiece that has been my ball and chain, my handcuffs, my camouflage and my security blanket for all these years – for me, it is a final declaration of independence! It's my LIBERATION! In case you missed it: 2009 was just a plain ole ugly tough year!
2009 saw a huge number of people have to surrender to truth – with or without their own consent. The loss of homes we couldn’t afford, stock values based on bogus “fuzzy” math, companies that weren’t truly delivering value in today’s economy, even relationships that were based on security instead of respect and admiration. Sometimes – often – stepping into the truth is painful. But in the end, it is a blessing. It frees us up to live authentically, i my friends am choosing to live authentically.
So, let’s applaud the good that came from 2009: it gave us permission to walk with a lighter load – to shed the useless baggage we’ve been carrying around. For me, it is the insecurity and vanity of letting the world know my fairly innocuous secret: I have Alopecia. What will you abandon as we move into twenty-ten?( yes I‘m calling 2010: Twenty-ten!) Do you have some baggage you are ready to put down? Things that just don’t serve you well now that you are older and wiser?
Some people blossom late; some early; some over time – for me, it’s been a combination of all three. Today I AM FREE. Thank you Max. I hope I can grow from this into the man God had planned for me to be. Please take a look at my new photo’s and celebrate my new freedom with me. Let me know your thoughts. AND LASTLY: Let me “re-introduce” myself to you: Hi ! My name is Adam Helfman , some people call me Helfy, perhaps you will too. My heart over flows with love so please smile with me and have a Happy New Year! I wish for much abundance for everyone! Love you all…………
COURAGE: quality of being brave: the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action
LIBERATION: release, freeing
The New Helfy $tyle!!!!
The New Helfy $tyle!!!!
The New Helfy $tyle!!!!
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