They like me - they really, really like me! I submitted a post to read at a local Blog Out Loud event - and my post was picked! Yeah! There will be around 20 bloggers from the Ottawa area reading the post they submitted. I don't know if there were 21 bloggers who submitted, or if there were 40 - doesn't matter, I'm in!
I've never really put myself out there. I'm usually a private person about the RA side of my life. And I'll be reading a post about my RA to a roomful of complete strangers. When I think back to starting this blog and deciding to write down my story and daily struggles, I wasn't sure I would tell anyone I actually knew about my new blogging adventure, and I wasn't sure if they would read it. But let me be clear - it would be just fine if a group of complete strangers on the internet learned every horrid detail of my RA - just not people I may possibly know. Ahh, the joys of internet anonymity..
I go back to - most people don't know that I have RA. I don't advertise it. And it is a fairly major struggle in my day to day life. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it. I've operated under the philosophy of people don't want to hear you complain. I have a chronic illness, so I have continual possibilities to complain - but I don't want to. It's usually pointless. And who wants to hear complaints all the time?
For the blogging event, I will be reading "I Hate Stairs", which makes me tear up every time I read it. But it is a snapshot of one day of my arthritis struggle and in a few hundred words, I managed to conjure a clear picture of how RA impacts my family life.
I'm excited and scared. My blog is fairly personal and sharing that with 50+ people I don't know is a big step. But it's things like this that help you grow. Starting a blog has helped me find an on-line community of support and friendship. I'm hoping that by sharing my struggle - even with just a small room of people - maybe someone who knows someone with RA might have a better understanding of the struggles, pain and challenges that come with this disease.Or maybe I'll just have fun, meet some people and get over my fear of public speaking. That would be fine as well.
