Tag Archives: advocacy

What Am I Doing?

November 2, 2012 – 4:09 pm

Well, T1D Day has passed, and unfortunately, I can’t say that I have a lot to show for it. Sometimes these milestone days pass before I can make any kind of serious impact.

The good news is that it’s just the beginning of Diabetes Awareness Month. That means there are a lot of things I can still do to increase awareness and help champion our cause. So what am I doing? How do you advocate for something you feel strongly about?

First, I hate the phrase “lead by example”. Only because whenever that’s used, it seems like someone is saying that leading by example is enough. Well, it is for some. Just not me, not right now. So I want to start to lead by example. That means managing the BGs well, staying as healthy as I can, and not judging others based on their success or failure of the same.

I’m also trying to keep people informed, as much as I can. There are several D-Awareness Month initiatives out there, and I’ll be letting readers of this forum know about them as much as I can.

On top of that? I got my Blue Circle merchandise from the IDF/World Diabetes Day merchandise page, and I’ll be handing out blue circle pins and bracelets to practically everyone I know this month. Almost all so far are completely unaware of Diabetes Awareness Month, World Diabetes Day, or the Blue Circle. So they get a quick info session on top of the swag. I’ve already had one person ask me about the blue circle pin I’m wearing, and that’s a good thing too.

Stealing an idea from someone else in the DSMA Twitter chat this past week, I’ve started to inconspicuously place D-related reading material around the workplace. This kind of thing is generally frowned upon where I work, so I have to be careful with this strategy to avoid running afowl of the people in charge. This whole idea sounds like it has an element of danger to it, which must be why I find it so appealing.

Finally, you might have noticed that I’ve updated this site, at least for November. I kinda like the blue, even though red is my favorite color. I also added the photo, showing my blue circle pin and bracelet, which I’m going to try to wear all month long.

Wow, when I look back and read all of that, I realize it’s probably not that much in the way of increasing awareness. But it’s a heck of a lot more than I was doing last year, which was nothing. November has just begun, and I’m still looking for more impact.

Is there anything special that you’re doing this month? If so, feel free to let me know. I’d love for everyone to hear about it.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Diabetes | Also tagged , | Comments (3)

100 Blog Posts! Meh… Big Deal.

September 26, 2012 – 6:59 am

I mean, who cares, really? Compared to all of the advertising copy I wrote many years ago, and compared to the pages and pages of technical documentation I’ve churned out over the last 16 years, one hundred blog posts is nothing. Compared to other D-bloggers, the heroes I read every day, who have written thousands of posts and who are way better than I am, one hundred is nothing.

Spoiler alert: I need to get some thoughts out of my head here. I won’t think less of you if you don’t read any further.

To be honest (with both the reader and myself), I have to look at the big picture here. When I started writing this blog, I had the fever: I was stoked about everything DOC-related. I probably went a little overboard. Or a lot. Lately, I’m not enthused about every last thing I read, every experience I see depicted in writing, photos, podcasts, and video. Sometimes, I’m less than enthused. What does that mean from a big picture point of view? It means that neither extreme is the norm. I suspect I’ll move a little more toward the center of the spectrum again soon.

How about the writing? There have been some good posts, and some not so good. Strangely, some of the things I’ve written that were well thought out, carefully worded, about timely subjects, were among my least viewed posts. Some other things (recipes, for example) have generated more views, likes, and comments than they probably deserved (three likes for fish tacos?). Maybe I should change this to a cooking blog. Maybe. But that’s not where my passion is right now. Big picture? I need to be thoughtful and measured, and always try to improve.

At the outset, I had three goals:

1. Don’t expect to be read. Don’t expect to get comments. I’m doing this to keep a written record of my life, not to be a web star. Stay humble. Rinse. Repeat.

How am I doing? No problem. I’ve gotten what seem to me like a lot of views, but not very many comments (note: I wrote this before yesterday, where I got the most comments I’ve ever gotten in a single day. Thanks!). I enjoy keeping a written record of my life with diabetes, and I think about that often when writing.

2. Where I can, be an advocate for others. Not a necessity as a blogger, but I need to remember that it’s not always about me. And there are always people who need help more than I do.

How am I doing? I’m trying to remember that I’m very, very lucky, and I’m trying to keep my fellow PWDs in my thoughts all the time. I’ve also been looking for opportunities to advocate where possible, and to that end, I have this to show you:

Gotta admit… I’m kinda jazzed up about this. I may not get to mentor someone for a while yet (unless you count the time I spent on the phone Sunday night with my sister-in-law… newly diagnosed with Type 2). But I’m glad that I’m at least on the road toward doing something positive.

Aaaand, 3. Enjoy

How am I doing? I had forgotten how much I like to write. To be honest, there were 14 Like These Links posts, so you could say that this is only my 86th post. But who’s counting? Anyway, I’m definitely enjoying the process, whatever it is. Or however it’s counted.

There’s still more story to be told, I think. I’m still finding my voice. It must be around here somewhere. Maybe the next hundred posts should be focused on that.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Beginnings | Also tagged , , | Comments (6)