In the wake of this week's election results, Andrea shares a minisode with her thoughts on committing yourself to a fight that feels impossible. Want to suggest a non-profit for us to support? Drop us a line [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
True Story Media. Hello, it's Andrea. I am recording this on November 8th. For my US listeners, this has been a hard week for a lot of us. And I know so many of us are feeling sad and scared in the wake of the election.
And listen, I don't have any hot takes on what happened here or what's gonna happen next, but I do have a perspective that I thought might be helpful and hopefully bring you a little bit of comfort right now. These last five years of my professional life have been really devoted to raising awareness about Munchausen by proxy. And in various ways,
trying to figure out how to combat these huge systemic issues that prevent us from protecting kids from abuse. And what I'm realizing this week is that this has taught me a lot about how to stay motivated in a fight that feels impossible a lot of the time. And especially, it's taught me how to combat hopelessness, which I think is something that a lot of us may be feeling right now.
So I wanted to share a little bit about what I've learned. So this all started for me five years ago when my novel came out and I met Dr. Mark Feldman. He has become a mentor and a good friend in real life as well as a friend of the show. In January of 2020, he invited me to the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children's annual conference.
And this is where I met the other members of the Munchausen by proxy committee, many of whom have become friends and are frequent contributors to the show. This was my very first time meeting anyone who understood what I'd been through, and meeting this group of people who really cared about this issue was life-changing.
Importantly, it was clear to me pretty immediately that A, there was so much work to be done, and B, that there were specifically things that I could do to help, that as a writer and a storyteller, I could be useful to the cause and the community, that I had a role. And increasingly, this role has become really dominant in my life.
And because I'm using the thing I love, storytelling, to do this work, it's really energizing, even when it's really hard. And I think this really helps to prevent burnout. So as you're thinking about what you might want to do next, think about what could be a rewarding way for you to spend that time.
Whether this is organizing or making art or running for office, listen, it's all needed and it all counts. Also, meeting this committee and starting the show and getting to meet so many more people who've been impacted by this, who really care about kids and care about this issue, has been one of the most healing things I could possibly imagine. Isolation is really the enemy here.
So find the helpers, as Mr. Rogers would say. The antidote to feeling like no one cares is to finding other people who do care, and they are out there, I promise. And finally, doing this work has taught me to count every win, no matter how small. There aren't often big wins to be had in my work, so you have to count progress in millimeters. You have to do what you can.
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