Donating my hair

Today my good friend Cindy and I donated our pony tails for the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign. Neither of us have ever done anything which changes our appearance so drastically, but we knew this was for a good cause so we let the scissors snip away at the hair we've been growing for the past couple of years. 

We went to Sachi For Hair in Dianella plaza and we were in such good hands. The hair stylist who cut our hair was Claire, and wow she is a master with the scissors. It was such a strange feeling when all the hair was cut off, but once our hair had been restyled into the bob cut, I kind of forgot why I was so nervous to begin with because rocking shorter hair is pretty cool. Is this how Beyonce felt when she cut her hair?

Both Cindy and I are so happy with our shorter hairdos. To think, we would never have known that we could pull it off if we didn't take the leap and go for it. I've learnt this lesson many times over this year. Sometimes trying something new, scary as it may seem, turns out to be not that scary at all. It's the best feeling when you are glad you pushed past the fear and made the leap. This makes me think of something I once read about "what-ifs" and not knowing. I love this idea that we should take whatever we have right here and now and make a life so great that we are glad our "what-if" never came to be. Sometimes we don't get what we want, but we will always have something good in our lives. It's best to use all these good things and move forward to creating a better future. Even if it's different from the one we planned, doesn't mean it still can't be good. I love this quote from Marc and Angel Hack Life: "To be upset about what you don't have is a waste of what you do have". 

Love this girl so much. A true friend and an amazing human being :) :) :)

Plasma donation

Today I donated plasma at the local blood bank. It's a different process to donating whole blood and if we want to get all technical and fancy, the term for it is apheresis. 

I was given a pamphlet explaining apheresis so I thought I might type if up for you guys:
Apheresis is the process of collecting blood components, like platelets and plasma, using a cell-separating machine. Blood is drawn from the donor and is mixed with an anticoagulant solution to prevent clotting of withdrawn blood. The machine (called a centrifuge) separates the desired components by centrifugation (spinning) and the remainder of the blood is infused back to the donor. This draw and return cycle is repeated several times until the desired collection volume is reached. 

It wasn't written in the pamphlet, but after each cycle, they pump in some saline to replace the lost volume. 

Luckily for me the process went smoothly and I was able to donate a pretty decent amount of plasma which was required from a person of my weight and height. The nurses there were so lovely, and I enjoyed having a chat to the volunteer and other donors in the dining area after the donation. I strongly urge everyone to roll up their sleeve and donate. It's truly a life saving donation and the world will always be needing blood and blood component donations. The plasma donation takes a bit longer than whole blood, but you'll be out of there in about an hour and 15 minutes. 

To make an appointment, hop onto the the Australian Red Cross Blood Service website, or call 13 95 96 :)

I will point out that the cannula (needle) they insert seems quite wide, but it has a bevelled tip (slanted) so it doesn't hurt that much at all. I think have this fear that they will get a huge thick needle jabbed into them, but really it's all designed to be as painless as possible. 

I took some time to reflect after my donation and I thought back to my primary school days where I would cry at the sight of a needle. I don't know at what point between then and now, but I managed to dispel my fear of needles. Either that or I just grew a pair :P I then got thinking about a lot of the other things I was scared of when I was younger and I realised that I'm no longer frightened of them anymore. I've learnt over the years to really try and own fear. Of course it's still a work in progress, but I've become somewhat obsessed with trying to be the best version of myself and being courageous and facing all my fears is one of those ways I can achieve this. For me, it's all about self talk and and learning how to not fill my mind with scary and negative images. Everyone deals with their fears a little differently, but sometimes everyone needs a little support. Even if you're not ready to face your own fears, I hope everyone out there is prepared to hold someone else's hand as they face theirs. 

I got a cool glittery sticker!

Relay For Life

Back in April, I gave a donation to Unicef and made an effort then and there to be more giving and make a difference whenever and where ever I can. A friend recently asked me to join their team for Relay For Life, an event to help support the Cancer Council, but unfortunately I am unable to participate because of other commitments. I still wanted to show my support though, so today I decided to help the team out and give a donation. I've never helped sponsor anyone for Relay For Life yet, and so I figured this would be a great something new for the day. 

I also wanted to share something else with you all today. I opened up one of my favourite sites Marc and Angel Hack Life today and saw a post that I had read a while back which they had re-posted. It is titled 8 Things You Forgot To Be Grateful For. This post definitely goes straight to my heart because there is one particular sentence (that I have underlined below) that motivates me to keep writing this blog:

2.  Every single experience that led you to today.

Life isn’t about a single moment of great triumph and attainment.  It’s about the trials and errors that get you there – the blood, sweat, and tears – the small, inconsequential things you do every day.  It all matters in the end – every step, every regret, every decision, and every affliction.

The seemingly useless happenings add up to something.  The minimum wage job you had in high school.  The evenings you spent socializing with coworkers you never see anymore.  The hours you spent writing thoughts on a personal blog that no one reads.  Contemplations about elaborate future plans that never came to be.  All those lonely nights spent reading novels and news columns and comics strips and fashion magazines and questioning your own principles on life and sex and religion and whether or not you’re good enough just the way you are.

All of this has strengthened you.  All of this has led you to every success you’ve ever had.  All of this has made you who you are today. 

I know that I have the wonderful support of all my friends and family that read this blog and for that I feel truly blessed, but just knowing that with or without an audience, I'm still making a difference to the future me is such a great feeling. 

Keeping this blog up and running everyday can be a bit tiring, but I'm reminded of how much I love doing this each time I look back over my past posts. Seeing all the photos and reliving the memories is an instant happiness shot. I am so blessed to have been given this gap year. 

Today is day number 231. Only 134 days left, and not a single one will be wasted :)

Unicef

Hey guys!

It's going to have to be a super quick post today because I should have left for uni about 10 minutes ago. I haven't left yet because I am quite dedicated to this blog and so I had to do something new now or else I wouldn't have had any other time later. 

It was such a pickle to try and think of something new to do in the one free hour I had. By pure chance, my good friend Cindy which I have mentioned in a few blog posts now told me yesterday that she had donated money to Unicef. 

I decided to also donate to Unicef today. There were lots of appeals which you could donate to. I chose to donate money for enough measles vaccinations to protect 200 children from HIV/AIDS.

Unicef is only one organisation which needs donations. It's all very quick and easy, so please do your research and find a charity or organisation to make a donation for today :)