Would You Shut-Up Already?

Last night I started tackling that dreaded business plan that has been giving me so much stress. I ignored it all weekend until I stopped being scared of it and started feeling really pumped up about it, viewing it as the road map of The Fibromyalgia Crusade and curious to see where it was going to take me. I was not sure where I wanted to end up, so knowing how to get there is quite impossible without first figuring out my desired destination. But once my husband and I sat down and started collaborating our goals, ambitions and dreams for this awareness campaign it started coming together. And it is bigger than even I thought it was ever going to be! We are going global, we are going huge! What started as a girl with a bit of writing talent and a strange illness blogging about her trials, tribulations and triumphs turned into a fabulous support site on Facebook. The experiences I had there, the people I met and stories I heard stirred in me a deep and intense desire to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE MADNESS OF LIVING WITH FIBROMYALGIA! Our illness is lacking something critical (besides a cure, of course!), and that is awareness and knowledge. Hence The Fibromyalgia Crusade was born. And slowly, step by step, the plan is forming, the map knitting together, and the result is an unstoppable force that will ultimately change the reality of living with this illness.

The success of this campaign lies with YOU, my cohorts. The patients and family and friends that are not content to suffer in silent misunderstood misery any longer. YOU that are ready to start talking and educating the misinformed or ignorant or simply unaware of this thing called Fibromylagia. YOU that are intent on communicating what it is like living with an illness that does not destroy you externally, will not kill you, but will attack your quality of life so severely you are left as nothing more than a weeping quivering mess in a puddle on the floor. YOU that have taken control of your circumstances and formed friendships off The Fun House wall and stopped letting unenlightened doctors bully and dismiss you. YOU that are proud of your efforts to get up every day and face whatever challenges lie in your way, pushing through that Amethyst into Mulberry and pacing yourself enough even to turn it into Lilac.

I am a people person, a yakety-yaker, and since I no longer drag myself to the department stores a few days a week to do makeup and sell products I have far less human interaction that I am used to. So when we are out and about in public it is only a matter of minutes before a polite and generic conversation with a stranger turns into a full-fledged Fibromyalgia awareness workshop! My husband has caught me on more than 1 occasion divulging the gritty details of my life story to anyone willing to listen to me and dragged me away, apologizing for my over-enthusiastic acclamations. But I just cannot shut-up! I am so excited by what is going on here. I am amazed by the sheer  momentum and thrilled with the potential we have to affect true and lasting change. Hammering out that mission statement was tough, but we realized during the brainstorming session that this is an international campaign. I have many readers and friends from many countries, but I did not have the confidence or feel it was realistic to think I could take on the whole world at one time. My idea was to start with the USA and grow international eventually, but he challenged me to think bigger, use what is already at my fingertips and set my sights as high as they can go! So as we shore up the details and launch this movement forward, remember it is up to us to NOT shut-up. It is up to us, the grass-roots founding members of The Fibromyalgia Crusade, to start jibber-jabberin' and spreading the news and not stop until Fibromylagia is a household word.

Thanks for joining,
Leah