Diabetes advocacy

On Sunday night, I was interviewed on @carteblanchetv by the lovely @masakekana about diabetes advocacy in South Africa.

I’ve been interviewed on TV and radio a lot – mostly about diabetes (for @sweetlife.org.za and @sadiabetesadvocacy), sometimes about grief for The Grief Handbook – but this one felt Important (with a capital I) because Carte Blanche is South Africa’s most respected investigative journalism show. And it was my white whale – I’d never been on it!

It was also nerve-wracking because I had no idea which segments of our interview they were going to use… (Spoiler alert: it was great, and they told the story really thoughtfully.)

A reluctant advocate

I’ve said before that I’m a reluctant advocate, because I am. If advocacy is picketing and shouting and pestering people till they respond to you, then I am not well suited to it. But I believe there’s a different kind of advocacy… a kind where you can discuss and collaborate and work together to get results that work for everyone. We have a plan for this kind of advocacy, and we’re actioning it today (wish us luck!) 🍀

I also keep thinking of what my mom said – and wrote down, currently stuck to my brother’s fridge. “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives… Good days are like stitches, good lives are like quilts.”

We don’t have to do it all today. Whether that’s advocacy or work projects or parenting or relationships or anything in life… We just have to do one stitch today. And then another tomorrow, and another the day after (unless it’s a weekend, and then of course just lie down and read!)

This is a Memo to Self, right? You can eat an elephant if you take it one bite at a time (another one of my mom’s favourite sayings!)

What are you grappling with that might be easier one stitch, or one bite, at a time?