Yesterday’s #TruthAboutTrying Twitter chat with REDBOOK was simply amazing. For the first time, hundreds of us gathered to talk freely and openly about our infertility. This Twitter chat was probably one of the most liberating events in which I’ve participated online.
Could you imagine if we could talk that freely on Facebook? At work? With our friends and family? Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a world where infertility didn’t have such stigma attached to it?
Yesterday, I got a glimpse of that world, and I’ve gotta tell ya: it drives me to keep doing this work. The infertility community needs it.
Without further ado, here are 7 Reasons Why Infertility Awareness Matters:
There is greatness that can be done by and for the infertility community.
It starts with you – now.
Even though I’m not on Twitter (I know, *GASP*), I enjoyed following along in the discussion online. I was amazed at how many people participated and how fast the comments/posts were coming in. It was tough to keep up with everything for a while. But, it was great to see so many women (and a few men) who were all experiencing the same things that I have been going through.
Great job!
Kudos to you and Redbook for doing this. I was listening to NPR and a woman was discussing how 20 years ago breast cancer was in the closet and now, look at the incredible awareness and fight. This tweet-a-thon made me hopeful, for the first time, that maybe our community can do the same thing.
I’ll tell you this: I’m subscribing to Redbook for the first time ever.
How incredibly wonderful. I’m sorry I missed it.
I shared the link to the Truth About Trying on Facebook and on my blog. My blog is anonymous, so I have no fear of sharing about my struggle to conceive on there, but I have been cautious about sharing on Facebook. I’m slowly “coming out” about it to my family and friends. Seeing so many other people talking freely about it definitely helps remove some of that fear. My thanks go to all of you who shared your stories. 🙂
I’m honored that you included one of my Tweets in your post today.
I meant what I said then – I was and AM so proud to be a part of this community. Seeing the many supportive words fly publically and candidly warmed my heart. By the end of it, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and with hope on behalf of others.
I truly hope that this is just the start of a united front in which we can truly “normalize” the way infertility is viewed by the public, but most importantly by OURSELVES as those who are affected by it. So many women (and a few men in attendance!) expressed new feelings of empowerment, unity, and pride, which helped to counteract their feelings of helplessness, solitude, and shame.
Bravo, Redbook and Resolve, and VERY well-played, Keiko. I am so proud to call you my friend.
I know things can happen in a positive way after this because I have seen them change before. In ’03/’04, I didn’t feel there was much support out there. I worked with RESOLVE, but had to start a chapter because there wasn’t anything out there for me. I started to blog. Now there’s more blogs, twitter “tribes”, facebook groups and more working to support this community, to advocate and educate. It’s amazing how a handful of years have made IF more accessible, it’s talked about so much more. I can only hope this continues and that one day, no one is ashamed to mention it.
Thank you Keiko for your Participation in yesterday’s Twitter live chat. I have never felt so much support as I did yesterday. I took part in it and warned my friends on Twitter that I was taking part in this. I apologized after the chat for the sheer number of tweets and retweets, but was shocked by how many people not involved in this community spoke out to me for the first time in complete support for me and this community. They thanked me for the glimpse into this community and the strong men and woman who fight this everyday. People are spreading the word, people are starting to realize that this isn’t a choice and we deserve to be heard and that’s what makes yesterday such a huge success! Thank you again for all your hard work!
There was magic in our Twitter chat.
In those moments of trust, support, encouragement, and openness, I saw a glimpse of how things CAN be.
How they WILL be if we continue to stand together.
Thank you for your work on this project…thank you for your tireless work for the infertility community.
You are appreciated beyond words.
This is such an amazing, inspirational post. Reading these rhetoricals, “Could you imagine if we could talk that freely on Facebook? At work? With our friends and family?” I literally sucked in my breath a little, truly unable to fathom a world in which the answer to these questions was “yes.” But maybe that world is possible. Maybe someday I could talk about my TTC struggles and miscarriage without fear of reproach. Maybe some day…
Thanks Keiko (and Redbook) for making that someday a possibility.