You never know who will find your stuff and turn their life (diabetes, or other) around after reading a single post.
All of this, all of it, wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t find Kerri four years ago. If someone out there can say the same because of something I wrote then I can happily call this whole blogging adventure a success. You can’t put a value on paying it forward, but I know that’s the only way this community will continue to grow and thrive.
A Consequence of Hypoglycemia. 
You got it right my friend. My blog is there for newly diagnosed families and for dads who have children with Type 1. If I blogged for followers I would have tossed in the towel a while back. Next Wednesday will be 2 years of blogging. I see blog rolls that list d-dads and you click on the link and it is gone. You never know who you are going to touch, someone on a given day will need what someone wrote! Any given day. Love your blog my friend!
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Well said Chris! I started blogging about my experience with my son that was diagnosed T1D about 18 months ago as a way to cope and as a way to find support for us both. This has lead me to a wonderful community of bloggers that get what we are going through. As a single parent trying my best to help my 13 year old son, I am not sure what I would do without this kind and caring community!
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I’ve been blogging since 2006. It’s my labor of love, my way to stay connected to the online community and find support–that’s why I started it. I felt like I needed to put my unique voice out there. To share. To find people who got me. And I found them, and I’m still finding them. I think blogging is for me as much as it is for anyone who stumbles upon what I’m contributing.
I think waaay back when (like 2007 or 2008?) there was an official DOC de-lurking day where people left comments just to say they were readers, regardless of if those people had blogs of their own. Maybe another one of those would boost morale. However, there are so many more blogs on the DOC now than back then, maybe it wouldn’t help at all.
I think we need to make efforts to get people into reading new d-blogs…I know it’s hard for me to keep up sometimes, so I can’t be the only one having this problem. Some people require more validation than others. That probably drives some people out.
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There are a lot of awesome people out there on the DOC. I worry that many of us are not being recognized because we are in a bit of a blog celebrity culture. I think we are all capable of being “thought leaders” or “patient experts” and people just didn’t catch on. It’s not a reason to stop blogging. I started my blog for me, and then anybody who happened to stumble upon it.
As an online community, how can we amplify the voices of those who are telling great stories but may not have the Google rankings, page visitors or Twitter followers of our most popular community voices? And can we do that without becoming competitive with each other? These are things I think about.
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I’ve written maybe a half million words about diabetes over the last seven years in forums, blogs, social media networks, replies to news articles, and personal correspondence. Several people have thanked me, a couple for saving their lives. I tell them I write because I read advice that saved my life. Thank you “Spike!” The DOC exists because we all write and write and write.
So write on!
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Thanks Chris. It’s true… someone needs to hear your story. Plus (for me, anyway), I like to write, and it seems cathartic to journal my experiences and feelings about diabetes for the first time in my life. So if no one read my stuff, it wouldn’t matter, because writing makes me feel better. If someone does read, and it affects them in a positive way, that’s a double victory for me.
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“Blog to share your story.” I can’t think of a better reason to blog. We all have stories to share, and we all can learn from each other. The more bloggers, more stories and more thoughts there are, the bigger the community and certainly the better for everyone.
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Very well said. And what awesome comments!
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A mom came up to me later in the conference and shared that my blog was the first one she found. She had no idea why my story connected with her, but she assured me it did. I had no idea until I met her at the conference. She’s never left a comment. I bet we all have that story somewhere, and most of us just don’t know it.
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