A Favor to Ask

Dear friends,

I have a favor to ask of you. I believe that I have a good community that is supportive through the anxiety of challenges/ excitements and I’m very, very thankful for that. I am predicting that life may get more intense though.

The last couple of months have been challenging. Some of the public dialogue we have all heard have in fact brought up past personal struggles, reminding me of the sadness in the pit of my stomach that used to be there constantly. I haven’t been as productive or as social as I would like to be as of late. Yet, I believe we are resilient and I know we will work through these challenges, however hard they may be.

The last couple of months have also been very exciting, which also brings a touch of anxiety with it. I am thankful for the genuine and real conversations that we have had dealing with very sensitive and complicated topics. I am excited about the publication of One of Us and finally getting a story out there that will inspire positive change. I am excited about other potential opportunities and the future that we get to actively participate in.

I need to request a favor. In 2012, I wrote a blog post because I believed in sharing my story for the greater good of shedding light on issues and letting others know they are not alone. In it, I quickly depicted injustices committed against me by an individual, then a system, and then by the media. Some of the negatives included receiving personally harassing messages and responses while the positives included messages critically analyzing the system and messages of hope and thankfulness. 

The year is now 2016 and the rules/use of social media has changed. Individuals can become very hateful and simple things like a tweet can have an enormous impact.

My favor is this: with the publication of my book and other potential opportunities challenging systems and shedding light on issues, I am going to need your support in the near future more than ever. Right now, I’m good. Things aren’t crazy and I’m not being personally attacked. I am in a healthy spot and I still see a therapist/life coach every two weeks to either work through challenges or work towards different life goals.

Here are a few tangible things that I find supportive: 
• Patience. I may not respond to a text/email right away. Texts are an easier way to reach me since they don’t get buried within emails. If I don't respond, just know that it might be a bad day and I appreciate you thinking of me and I will respond when I am in a slightly better place.
• Pick your battles wisely. If you read something about me, the book, other stuff, that doesn’t sit right and was written by a possible internet troll, don’t let it get to you. Personally, I am trying to either respond attempting to understand where they are coming from, ask a clarifying question, or I simply don’t respond. I am too busy to battle it out with individuals who are hardcore about whatever they are trolling about.
• Keep showing love in normal ways. If you read my book (which has very personal details depicted in raw and genuine ways) please do not treat me differently. We know each other as awesome individuals. My past has helped shape who I am today but it does not define me. Please feel comfortable talking with me about sensitive issues. Let’s also talk about our next travel plans or what shows we are currently binge watching. I would also be cool with a hike and getting away from technology and the city.
• Celebrate together. Once there are physical copies of One of Us, I want us to celebrate together the sweat, blood, and tears of all of the individuals who helped the book come to fruition. In the meantime, we can raise our glass to the work we have done and pursuing the work we still have yet to do. 

At the end of this super long post, I am very thankful for my supportive community. We are resilient. We choose to love. We have hope for a better today and tomorrow because together, we’ve got this.

(And now I shall sleep. Please excuse any grammatical typos and all that jazz…)