Noticed a bit of a spike in traffic (have a feeling it has something to do with a few links from Chris — thank you!), so I thought I’d introduce you new readers to my blog, my online home
First I want to thank you all for visiting. There’s no theme here. I blog about what I’m thinking about or in response to something I see. I look forward to hearing and learning from you. The comment section is where we can talk and it would be great to connect on Twitter as well.
You might be interested in my recent post about self-acceptance, or my post earlier this month about the power and promise of acting on a hunch.
Plus, I might be able to help you with your business or non-profit so please check out what I can offer at the Work With Me page. I can also help you with your blog content or strategy, so have a look at my Blog Consulting page.
BlogHer is happening this week and I’m not going. BUT, if I was going I would definitely be attending this panel discussion: “How can your blogs be a conduit to transformation?” Heather from MAMAvision, Carla Birnberg, aka MizFitOnline, Claire Mysko, Kate Harding, and Roni from Roni’s Weigh will lead the panel discussion.
I think we all can testify to the fact that blogging can definitely encourage and motivate someone to learn, grow and change in a positive way. I really started thinking about it though when I read the rest of the session description: “In a society where more young girls fear becoming fat than they fear cancer, nuclear war, or losing their parents, some bloggers are taking a stand against teaching their children learned behaviors that affect their body image.”
Think about that.
We are bombarded daily with images that tell us that we can be healthier, more successful, have a better job, cool friends, a better career (the list goes on & on) if we were skinnier, had bigger breasts, different eyes, fatter lips.
These images reach young girls who begin to believe they aren’t okay as they are. That they need to change. When they should be chasing butterflies and reading Ella Enchanted they start to question the way they look and to equate their physical image with their self-worth. If the goals presented are unattainable then how do you feel worthy?
Heather, Carla, Claire, Kate and Roni want to discuss the impact we as bloggers can have on this unattainable and market-driven ideology.
We can do something. We can write about the reality of women’s bodies. We can teach acceptance. We can reveal the ridiculousness of the fashion and marketing industry’s attempts to sell people a concept of beauty that is neither healthy, based in fact or accessible.
How to do this?
- Encourage taking care of our bodies we have and focus on a healthy lifestyle instead of constantly be trying to perfect something that is already wonderful.
- Point out role models of all shape and sizes that are successful and happy in their lives. Think America Ferrera from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. There are lots more - find them, talk about them.
- Use examples of unhealthy body image concepts, commercials with anorexic models, ads to enhance body parts, as starting points for conversation regarding a healthier approach.
I love to show girls this video, short and to the point, from Dove (2006).
This is the reality behind the goal to be beautiful. There is no acceptance here of what is. Only the need for modification.
Not to mention unnecessary.
We can promote companies, products and people that encourage healthy self-awareness and realistic achievable goals.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all wrote in a way that that didn’t perpetuate this myth of not being “good” enough?Helping others always leads to learning with those you are teaching. Helping younger women and girls learn and encourage self acceptance can only be a positive experience and a lesson in acceptance for ourselves.
Thank you for all your work in putting together this panel discussion. Friday July 24th at 1:15-2:30 I won’t be there. Will you?
Remember we don’t have to be there to participate. What will you do to “step up & guide the next generation as best we can [so that there is]… hope for change?”
Just wrote a post about meeting your readers’ expectations and writing outside the box over on Liz’s blog. Please check it out.
Some of these choices mean supressing certain aspects of our personalities. Some choices we make definitely require us to toe the line and I’m okay with that.
When we have a blog we have responsibilities to ourselves to be true in our writing but then we start to find an audience and often that audience comes with expectations. Those expectations can be seen in the comments and in the reactions to certain content. It does seem tempting to just stick with what’s been working.
Last week something really exciting and really worthwhile happened all because I acted on a hunch.
I’m connected to a lot of people. I always have been. I love connections. I love connecting people with other people that I know would work well together or benefit just from engaging. I think my dream job would be just that - sort of like a matchmaker but with no specific goal in mind.
I acted on a hunch and made one of my most important connections yet! I want to share it because I want you to see how acting on a hunch, an idea, can really pay off.
I love non-profits. I love agencies supporting those who need support. I especially love when a single individual becomes motivated enough to see a problem that requires action and takes it upon themselves to do it.
I have met a few of those kinds of people. One in particular I met is Mark Horvath. (@hardlynormal on Twitter). I found him through some one else’s conversation and was immediately intrigued. Here is a guy roaming around with the homeless, interviewing them and sharing their stories. How awesome is that?
I also have met a wonderful woman (@GillianK) who happened to work for a PR company that represents . Yes, the Hanes underwear/sock people. Gillian is awesome. Super professional, patient and she understood and did not dismiss my impassioned plea out of the dark to pitch one of her clients just because I asked.
Homeless shelters, street advocates and Mark will tell you giving someone who lives on the street and spends their day walking, new socks is like handing them gold.
AH ha! Gillian works for Hanes, Mark advocates and assists for homeless people. It all made sense to me! It seemed like a win-win situation for everyone!
Gillian responded right away. I let Mark know and the idea took off! What a great fit! Hanes will be sponsoring Mark’s cross country tour by providing brand new socks for distribution in all cities his road trip takes him to. And, they will be promoting InvisablePeople.tv through their digital initiatives.
Sure I’m proud of making these connections and seeing something really wonderful happen as a result of it. I’m thrilled! But the thing I keep repeating is “you just never know….. ”
Take that chance, act on that hunch - do it.
Homelessness is not a new issue but the numbers these days are staggering. Follow @hardlynormal and you will learn about the real face of homelessness. Not just the statistics, which are important and shocking, but you’ll hear real stories from real people - just like you & me - who have no where to live.
When I first heard of Mark I contacted him through the email address on his website just connecting and asked him how I could help. He responded back by telling me a little bit about himself but the thing that I remember the most from that email was this:
“How can I help you?”
We CAN all help. It’s important. Do it. Act. What do you have to lose?
My first post! Honestly I put this off, made excuses and avoided writing this for as long as I could. In the end I had a great deal of encouragement from people really close to me to make it happen. It’s not my first blog post, I do blog elsewhere, but for some reason this post seemed really daunting.
It’s kind of a big deal really. My own website with my very own name on it. What to write? What are people expecting from me? Should I write about marketing? I do have a really great project coming up with a really interesting client, and I will write about that… But not now.
I am totally immersed in Social Media - is that what I should be writing about? I do have a few interesting insights, ideas I am talking about and constantly working on, not to mention all the stuff I am learning… But no, not now.
Do I write about personal things? All these things are personal.
So since I really couldn’t make up my mind and I couldn’t think of the *best* thing, I’ll write about cooking. I love to cook. I love to cook for and with friends. I grew up in a big family in a small community where the village potluck was a huge deal.
The other day I was hanging out with friends and we were hungry and lazy - we didn’t feel like shopping. We needed to eat something and wanted it to be delicious. I had some leftover pasta sauce, made from scratch (love that word) in the fridge. I added onions, more garlic, Portobello mushrooms, black beans, a whole block of organic tofu, cayenne, salt & pepper and veggie broth. It was really starting to taste good - but not awesome.
So what to add..?
I threw in some orange juice and cocoa (I do love chocolate), and served it over brown rice, and WOW - it was amazing!
There you have it - a little about me and some cooking tips. Be willing to try new things, mix different types of food and see what happens.
Truthfully, I have no agenda here. No editorial plan, no timeline and no defined intent.
Let’s just see what happens. Let’s mix it up and give it all a try. Hope you like it!
Well, not quite yet. Still working on it, as you can see. Just got sick of seeing the default “there’s nothing here” post. Because, you know, there is. It’s just not done. Umm… check back later?
These images reach young girls who begin to believe they aren’t okay as they are. That they need to change. When they should be chasing butterflies and reading Ella Enchanted they start to question the way they look and to equate their physical image with their self-worth. If the goals presented are unattainable then how do you feel worthy? 
AH ha! Gillian works for Hanes, Mark advocates and assists for homeless people. It all made sense to me! It seemed like a win-win situation for everyone!
Well, not quite yet. Still working on it, as you can see. Just got sick of seeing the default “there’s nothing here” post. Because, you know, there is. It’s just not done. Umm… check back later?
