June 26th Migraine & Headache Awareness Month Post – Walking it Back

I am deeply sorry for any misunderstandings and hurt caused by the June 26th Social Media Challenge post. I never meant to upset anyone or make you think your advocacy efforts were not appreciated. My words in the original article were poorly phrased and did not reflect the intended meaning. Nor did it reflect my love and gratitude for each of you. In my haste, I failed to review the article before publishing, which was careless. In the future, we will all be more careful to review content before publishing to make sure it expresses our true intent.

We are all unique.

There are many new advocates eager to raise awareness about Migraine and Headache disorders. This is truly wonderful! There are also many who have been advocating “in the trenches” for many years. We’re all needed and important. None of us can do this alone. That is, after all, the theme of this year’s awareness month.

Of course we will all add our unique voices to the chorus. That’s a good thing! None of us should ever feel as though we have to “toe the party line” in order to be an effective advocate. We all bring something special and different. Those differences are our strength.

In our excitement to get started, it is important that we all (including me) take time to learn about the foundation that has been laid for us. Within that foundation is much that each of us can use to enhance our efforts. History is always a valuable lesson and the history of Migraine advocacy is no exception.

Unified is magnified.

When we make a special effort to come together, we are more powerful. Efforts that, in some way, reflect each other get more attention from the general public and are generally more effective. Sometimes we can best further the cause of Migraine advocacy by joining in on someone else’s great idea. When we are unified, the message is magnified.

Here’s a challenge for us all.

Let’s all make a special effort to join forces whenever possible. Some steps we can all take toward this goal include:

1. If we don’t already know the history of Migraine advocacy, let’s take the time to learn. There’s a lot more to the story than just awareness month and our official color. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more of the story.
2. When we are participating in large group efforts, let’s make an extra effort to ensure that our unique voices are aligned with the rest of the community as much as possible by using the official images along with our own, agreed-upon hashtags, and linking to the original source of the event or activity. The Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients is a great place to learn about upcoming events.
3. Some examples of larger, group efforts include:
   • Migraine and Headache Awareness Month
   • Shades for Migraine
   • Move Against Migraine
   • Out of My Head film

Clarification on byline

I am also sorry for the confusion caused by listing both Teri and myself as authors. My intent was to acknowledge Teri’s enormous contribution as the creator of the Social Media Challenge. Regardless of the reason, I now realize this was confusing to everyone. For the record, I authored all of 2018 Social Media Challenge prompts. Each one has been updated to reflect this. In the future, only content that is actually co-authored will list multiple writers. In that case, the primary author will be the first one listed.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please leave your comments below or feel free to contact me directly.