Advocacy - Raising New Possibilities

In the past week, I have had the privilege of attending the MS Australia Advocacy Conference in Melbourne.  My initial motivation for attending revolved around my quest to establish new direction in my life now that I have recently retired from permanent, full time employment.  Given my professional background in Human Resources and Employee Relations, the field of advocacy seemed like an appropriate potential future endeavour for me.  It also seemed to fit neatly with one of my future life plan objectives of 'giving back'.

The conference was so much more than I anticipated.  Here was a group of inspirational presenters and participants.  Despite the significant challenges of their disability, here were people that allow their spirit to overcome the adversity of their condition and work on behalf of others to achieve a better outcome for all.  This inspired me and cemented my passion to examine and develop my own capacity to advocate for others.

I was so taken by 'the power of one'.  Carly Findlay presented to us and taught us about how to actively create a very effective advocacy platform, substantially by using social media technology.  What a powerful example this is of what is possible.  One individual, with a significant disability has built a huge network of influence and is generating momentum for change and making a substantive difference for both individuals and communities that are affected by disability.   Thank you for sharing Carly and for your practical inspiration that has given me so much to work with going forward.

Clear also was the power of synergy.  It was so encouraging to see a group of people with a common interest come together and work so positively to realise the possibilities rather than bicker about their differences.  The Advocacy Team, along with others of us who attended, modelled excellence in team work.  This will ultimately build the capacity and capability of MS Australia in its critical advocacy work.  The panel discussion on the first day, highlighted for me what can be achieved through determined collaboration.  Disability Care Australia has much to do with strong collective advocacy undertaken by people with disability.  Achieving the benefits of synergy in teams has always struck me as critical in a commercial environment and this conference has demonstrated very plainly how relevant it also is in the not-for-profit sector.

During my career, primarily in the commercial sector, I had many wonderful development opportunities and I have pondered whether this was a positive influence in my life that was to become a thing of the past.  I have embraced this conference as 'one of the best' in terms of what it has provided me with personally but more importantly, what it will contribute in relation to advocacy on behalf of people affected by MS.  Thank you MS Australia for this terrific opportunity.

For my own part, I am building my learnings into my own life plan in support of one of my key aspirations to 'give back'.  I would also encourage you to explore what opportunities might exist for you to positively influence our world.  The 'power of one' is indeed a possibility.         

I'm Back...finally

Having made a start on what I envisaged to be a regular blog and loading my first post several weeks ago with lots of promise of what was to follow, I found myself needing to take, in the sporting vernacular, a medical time out.  While this was a tad  inconvenient, I am happy that it was not related directly to my Multiple Sclerosis and also that I have come to understand the likely cause and that I can do something to prevent it for the future.

As a person with Multiple Sclerosis, I am relatively used now to irregular intrusions of a chronic health condition from time to time and the impact that this can have of your desired daily routine.  Over the 20 years since my diagnosis, I have thought a good deal about how I should respond to these events.  They, for me, are both physical and emotional occurrences.  I have said to people from time to time that MS is "God's gift to control freaks"...a wonderfully pinpoint and insightful way to learn about how to react to circumstance over which you have very minimal control.

For me, the most immediate emotions that rise up at the point of a relapse are sadness and frustration.  If I am not careful, this can also lead to anger about the constraints that the relapse inflicts on me temporarily and possibly in the longer term. However, over time I have come to realise that stepping back and focussing on gratitude for the support that I have around me from family, friends and medical staff, calmness to focus on treatment and recovery process and humour in respect to my temporary physical limitations takes me forward to recovery much more quickly and smoothly.  My family would tell you that I am far from perfect at this, but I do work at it and it does give me some sense of control despite the uncontrollable aspects of MS.

I have recently begun to investigate meditation as a means to strengthen my approach.  As a keen observer and previous participant in sport, I have been fascinated by Brett Kirk, an ex AFL football champion, who harnessed the power of mediation to enhance his football capability and performance.  He has pointed young players to a a book - "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle.  A central tenet of the book is living in the present moment to deal with life's stress.  Clearly, participation in fast paced, elite level football matches can be very stressful and if mediation can assist to aid performance in these circumstances, the same benefits can surely be gained during the onset of an MS relapse.

What I hope to gain is greater calmness, better quality decision making and a better demeanour to benefit both me and those around me.  I will let you know how I go and in the interim, if you have experience of this kind of approach, I  will love to hear about it from you and gain your insights.