Hey, I’m Carrie and it’s nice to meet you!
Hey there, I’m Carrie and live in a small town near Charlotte, NC. Besides being a middle-aged wife and mom to three littles, I’m in a bit of a midlife crisis. After ending my corporate career a couple years ago to start a coffee franchise with my husband, we finally called it quits and now I’m wondering what the next steps are. Should we start a new entrepreneurial endeavor? If so, which one? What speaks to me? Lord only knows. Not only does that dialogue live in my head, but I’m also recovering from 40+ days of being incredibly ill, which has led me to this blog.
What do cowlicks have to do with anything?
Cowlicks were supposedly named for the swirling pattern made on hair when a mama cow licked its calves. It’s when a lock of hair grows in a direction different from the rest and resists being combed down. It seems like everybody has a cowlick or two. Recently, I’ve been finding mine to be unhinged and uncontrolled. At this point, it isn’t unusual for me to say, “I’m just a cowlick away from a good hair day.” I get a feeling a lot of people can identify with this sentiment, hence the name.
Despite trying to make the best out of these cowlicks of mine, I’d rather not have them so profoundly visible. If we can’t get rid of them, might as well minimize them, I guess.
This idea of minimizing my cowlicks goes hand-in-hand with this mini midlife crisis I’m apparently a party to/giving into. Not knowing what to do career-wise is one thing. Feeling like a sub-par parent and life partner is another thing. But being sick for 40+ days inexplicably and spending two days in a hospital is a whole different journey. Please don’t think I’m blowing things out of proportion here. I’m a 10-year ovarian cancer survivor and besides ADHD and a bum thyroid, I have had a fairly decent medical history. Then November 2023 happened. I was so sick for so long, I was concerned I might end up with chronic fatigue. Our family and home went to the wayside and it has been a very tough ship to right. Thankfully we’ve put those fears away, but now I’m struggling with just feeling well again.
My husband and I make a great team and we’re still working through all the dropped balls from more than a month on the fritz (plus the holiday season and school break), but you’d think after overcoming extreme exhaustion I’d have bounced back by now (January). So, I have decided to start this health/wellness/recover journey by documenting it here in blog form.
Here’s the deal
I know I’m not special or unique and that there are probably many people going through something similar. So I’m hoping to get better, share what odd and different approaches are (and aren’t) working for me. Maybe someone will read this someday and connect with the journey and feel less alone. Maybe not, we shall see.
In the coming weeks and months, I’m hoping to test out various health and wellness trends to see how they help on this journey to feel better. I’m going to be testing out saunas, sound baths, flotation/desensitization experiences and at least one chiropractor. I’m also learning about chakra energy centers and somatic body movement (it keeps popping up in my algorithm, so maybe there’s something to it). I’d also like to be as transparent as possible with costs associated with these approaches during the upcoming year. And, if you do visit this page, be prepared for this site to change because I’m going to continue playing around with the look/feel and formatting.
And, to be completely up front and honest, a brief disclaimer: I am just an individual testing out these approaches. I have no one or company sponsoring this content and I am not a medical professional. Do not try anything without doing your own research.
Cowlicks and Other Oddities 