#weeklyforwhimsy
I’ve never started a movement, but to be honest, I don’t think those TWLOHA guys back in 2006 were trying to do something other than empathise with a hurting girl. That’s where I’m at.
Trigger warning for self harm and SI talk here.
When I was a teenager in 2006, I dealt with a lot of suicide ideation. The TWLOHA movement was something I watched closely, and there’s a good chance it kept me from some self harm. The movement got a bit derailed for a season, but the core principle of caring for those struggling with mental health was clear. Multiple loved ones in my life are in the midst of that battle right now, and my heart aches for them.
As one of them messaged me on Thursday, we found ourselves in a point in the conversation where I talked to her about my childhood sadness over my mom so rarely buying me Barbie bandaids. This was a budget choice on my mom’s part as the Barbie bandaids were like $3 more than the plain ones, and with inflation I think that’s about $475 more. Like, ridiculously expensive. Yet, for some reason, when I became an adult, it was a conscious choice in my budget that I always buy fun bandaids. I buy off-brand other areas and sacrifice somewhere else so that I can always have the avengers, spider-man, toy story, or tacos on my body when I need to heal.
My loved one had happened to buy some cool bandaids and was recognising a tension in the tiny joy of fun bandaids and not feeling like she deserved joy when she needed bandaids for self harm wounds. I love this kid. I told her about my superhero bandaids, and I told her to wear the cool bandaid just for whimsy.
She wanted to take the bandaids off before work so she didn’t draw attention to the wounds. I told her to put on a fun bandaid on for whimsy and wear it to work. Tell your coworkers it’s for whimsy. Wear a fun bandaid weekly for whimsy, and work towards a more whimsy and less self harm.
This Saturday I wore a fun bandaid for whimsy.
That bandaid conversation was on Thursday, and I was thinking about putting one on my arm Friday but happened to not get around to it. Then Friday night a different loved one in a different country texted me about their self harm and disclosed some hard stuff. I love this person dearly. I put the bandaid on for her on Saturday.
I wrote love on my arm first.
I’m a part of this journey with these precious humans made in the image of God, and it’s a privilege to be invited in to see and know the wounds and to work towards more whimsy and less self harm.
So that’s my movement. #weeklyforwhimsy Once a week I’m going to start wearing a fun bandaid after writing love on my arms as a reminder that I love people who are struggling with deep, hard things, and I want to be a hand to hold as we work towards more whimsy.
Taco bandaids aren’t going to end self harm. I know that. Neither did TWLOHA, but it slowed me down when I reached for the tools. When I wrote love on my arms, I got to be an ally to others while helping myself. #weeklyforwhimsy starts for me in the place of ally, so if you’d like to join, you can tell people it’s as ally, and your coworkers never need to know if you’re an ally to yourself when you wear it.
