Advocacy; Finding Purpose in Adversity

I hope that some of you have had the opportunity to listen to the OurMBCLife podcast episode that dropped last week with the same title as this post. If not, you can access the episode I had the pleasure of producing here. I’m so thankful to the amazing team at OurMBCLife who allowed me to run with an idea that rose to the surface during the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December of 2022. You’ll have to listen to the episode to hear about where the idea came from (hint, it came from a post on Twitter as so many of my posts do!) and all of the input from the amazing panel of guests and representatives from LBBC and Metavivor, really do listen and subscribe and share!

What I wanted to highlight today is not just the podcast, but also the calls to action that I included in the episode and the Advocacy Bootcamp that Lesley Glenn and I are debuting at Project Life this summer. Really, do listen to the episode and then come back …

Here’s how I ended the podcast …

First, begin with who you are. The guests shared various ways that they have gotten into advocacy. And maybe you heard an idea that resonates with you. We are each wired so very differently and fit differently. So know yourself first.

Second, find someone who is doing the kind of advocacy you want to do and pick their brains, stalk them on social media. Watch what others are doing. Each of the panelists have agreed to let me put their email addresses in the show notes and they’ve promised to respond. We all need help. And these experience advocates have promised to help.

Third, try something. Whether you’re like Stephanie and you want to jump in with your entire body or if you want to stick your toes in to see what works best. Every experience begins with that first step. Take one step, however small and see what happens.

Fourth, consider applying to an advocacy training program. I’ve included links to programs that I researched as part of this episode in the show notes. And I’d like to add one more. This summer Lesley Glenn and I will be debuting Project Life’s, advocacy bootcamp. The bootcamp is designed for those people who are not yet in their advocacy niche. And after the training, we will be connecting each participant with an advocacy mentor, as well as connecting each participant with organizations that fit their interests. Registration for this program will be opening as of the time of this podcast. And we welcome you to consider applying at www.ProjectLifeMBC.com.

Fifth, if you are already involved with advocacy, find somebody to mentor. We all need to be thinking long-term about advocacy and replacing ourselves. Is key to longevity of the amazing projects and programs that MBC advocates are creating all the time. We truly know what is best for our own community, but we need to think about long-term.

Sixth and finally, take care of yourself. Burnout, compassion fatigue, are issues that we all grapple with. There are so much more work to be done than people to do it. Our community gets smaller all the time. And we need to each take care of our energy and be sure that we are focused as much as we can be in the time that we have remaining.

I hope each of you reading this post or listening to the episode can find their niche or perhaps just a next step towards finding that niche. Here’s the link to sign up for the Project Life Advocacy Bootcamp and here’s a blog post I wrote previously with some of the same calls to action, Breaking Into Advocacy. I would welcome advocates sharing how they arrived at advocacy in the comments below and please let me know if I’ve missed something important — we need EVERYONE to speak up, to use their voices in their own unique way, in order to address all of the needs in the MBC Community. We are truly #StrongerTogether.