This week, I am completely and totally floored by the amazing outreach initive of Redbook Magazine. Through partnerships with Resolve: The National Infertility Association and First Response, Redbook has launched a massive no-shame campaign entitled “The Truth About Trying“. From behind the scenes, I’ve known about this campaign for a couple months now, but even as I got excited and prepared for it, I had no idea how absolutely amazing this movement would really be.
If you haven’t seen it, let me explain a little about what it is. The Truth About Trying is an initiative started to get people talking and sharing about what really goes on in the journey towards expanding your family. Celebrities, web-celebs aka bloggers, and anyone else willing to wield a webcam have shared their personal testimonies, trials and triumphs. That means YOU, who may feel like your story is irrelevant to others or that no one cares, can tell your side on the same page as Sherri Shepherd, Padma Lakshmi, Marissa Jaret Winokur, and others.
The theme of my video, as well as many others is “What I wish I’d Known”. In it, I really just speak honestly about that very thing. Now, what I wish YOU knew, was how important it is for you not to let this opportunity pass. A campaign like this is what changes infertility from being a shameful, secretive heartbreak to a dynamic, life-changing movement. Redbook has taken a step for us, but we have to take it from there.
Now, I know what you’re saying, “But Regina, I still feel ashamed, embarassed, private, etc.”
To which I reply (in all honesty), “So do I.”
I found out this week that my sister is pregnant. Again.
I found this out on the exact same day that the Truth About Trying campaign launched.
And I swear to you…that after viewing those videos and hearing those stories, the part of me that would have normally gone all Schleprock and started with the “woe is me”, was dormant. Instead, I was happy, excited, and motivated. I was aware of my feelings. I was hopeful about the future. I was ready to get active.
I’d had yet another AHA moment.
And I want that for you as well as the 7.3 million others.
Don’t miss the movement. Your participation by sharing your story, sharing the page, or just viewing the campaign can make this journey so much less painful for someone else. Let’s do this. Let’s tell the Truth, (finally), about trying.