Today's prompt is a no-brainer for me. We're invited to give public thanks for some of our fellow Health Activists and what they have done, perhaps interspersed with some of our favorite posts of the event so far.
Well, thank you for the opportunity to thank Meredith for her blog! And for so much more. I came across Meredith during last year's event, intrigued by a comment she left on another rather wonderful blog (by a graduate of the MFA program I'm in, not participating this year). We got to know each other with miraculous rapidity. In addition to admiring her lucidity, transparency, and eloquence in writing about life--and life with bipolar--I learned and continue to learn from her courage, directness, and tough questions, of herself as much as of others. Her ability to reflect on her own experiences, to show her positive learning as well as the setbacks, is health advocacy of one of the most empowering kinds, especially related to a health condition as widely misunderstood and stigmatized as mood disorders are. I so admire the levelheadedness--levelspiritedness--with which she represents both medication and non-chemical ways to help us do better. Our brains are full of electricity and chemistry, and there are so many ways, from the clunky to the fractally subtle, that they can be influenced.
Her list of Resources from day 4 of this year's challenge just blows me away for its comprehensive and smart coverage. When things have calmed down (or when I can't sleep again tonight) I can't wait to check out many of these links, and also to try on myself some of the farther-out-of-the-box suggestions.
All that aside, I connected with a friend wonderful beyond imagining, in a year in which friendships have been the air that keep my self from imploding or bursting, the threads that link my limbs to the big hook in the sky.
There's another health blogger by whom I've been very inspired for years, but unfortunately her blog had to be taken down. She's a celiac vegan raw aficionado, so very much from the same corner of the food arena as I am, and I have always been inspired and impressed with her willingness to advocate for herself, her tireless, intelligent research and engagement, and her passion. Bitt, sending you love.
Finally, obvious as this may seem, I'm thankful for the WEGO Health Blog and community for encouraging me to think about the whole concept of health advocacy in creative and useful ways both in April and beyond. It's a concept that twirls around with my literary aims in a mesmerizing way.
A little more on my own verklemptitude (way to mix a Germanic root with a Latin suffix, eh?) in a separate post later.
Today’s Prompts:
- Thank a few of your fellow Health Activists for what they have done. Call them out by name or twitter handle. Share your love.
- Pick a few of your favorite #HAWMC posts so far and share them with your readers!
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