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LEARN TO THINK DIFFERENTLY

Feeling overwhelmed? A new book will help you reconnect with life – and it’s been written with neurodiversity in mind.

‘How to Love and Be Loved – Tiny steps to connecting with love and life’ book cover

How to love and be loved book illustration

Ink drawing illustrations of Indigo Violet by Mikyla Limpkin

When it comes to offloading emotional distress, hairdressers are out there on the frontline, listening to the stories, dispatching compassion, sharing love and all for the price of a cut and blow-dry. Customer conversations can be emotionally exhausting and sometimes so painful that they leave you lost for words in the moment and stuck with sadness long after the customer has left your chair. Where do you park this pain? How do you stay afloat? Who nurtures your needs?

A new book, ‘How to Love and Be Loved’ is a step by step guide to re-connecting with life and rediscovering a love for life. “I have met so many people struggling with feelings of overwhelm and isolation,” says its author Mikyla Limpkin.” I want to help make their lives better. My lived experience led me to research so much that could help people, that I had to find a way to share the knowledge.”

‘How to Love and Be Loved’ was designed with neurodiversity in mind and follows guidelines from the British Dyslexia Association in its layout, font and page colour. Short chapters and sub-chapters make reading easier for anyone with concentration issues, whether as a result of ADHD, stress or depression, and the key messages are illustrated to help visual learners alongside lots of opportunities for hands-on learning. With an estimated 55 per cent of hairdressers having either been diagnosed with, or related to, a neurodiversity such as dyslexia, autism or ADHD, ‘How to Love and Be Loved’ is particularly relevant within our industry.

“I designed a book that is easy to read and could be scribbled in, where you could join a voyage of wellbeing, see the science behind various techniques, test them yourself and record what works for you,” says Mikyla.

Mikyla was determined to make the book beautiful and uplifting, which is where Indigo Violet came in. “She’s a character I drew in ink, who turned out to be quite cheeky and fun to be around.”

Every chapter begins with a drawing to illustrate the topic, often with a splash of humour. “Drawing Indigo Violet is quite entertaining for me – she’s a character who likes to live life to the full. If I’m ever feeling down, I think ‘now what would Indigo do?’ And I see her in my mind’s eye, leaping for joy, or getting some sky on her head, or getting into her body. I follow her lead and feel much better.”
‘How to Love and Be Loved – Tiny steps to connecting with love and life’ is published by The Company of Smiles Ltd, RRP £12.99. Available from all good bookshops and online at Amazon.