There has recently been a campaign being shared around Facebook encouraging women to take a 'makeup free selfie' in support of breast cancer awareness. This campaign has had support from a lot of women including some I am very close too and respect very much. However the Facebook vigilante's, as usual, have come out in force and slammed these women or at least made negative comments or posted derogatory pictures in response to this campaign. I have chosen not to voice my opinion publicly on this page (facebook) but i feel entitled and driven to voice my opinion right here on my own personal blog page which has very few followers but I will allow others to read these words if they so desire. Lets break it all down. Firstly it's 'Facebook' for goodness sake, if you don't like what others are saying don't get involved, full stop, surely we each have enough self control to achieve that much. Secondly I do believe that a few points made regarding this particular campaign were valid (eg. the campaign should encourage donations), but since when is it each individuals role to pick apart each and every thing other people do and to have an opinion of it? Thirdly, I applaud these women for baring their faces, warts and all, for the whole world to see, it is the World Wide Web, remember. It is really hard for some women to share something that personal as most of us use makeup as a societal mask to allow us to feel more comfortable with who we are and to take it off and expose ourselves is a big deal. Granted it is nothing like what a cancer sufferer has to go through and I would never ever want anyone that I'm close to to have to experience it but maybe exposing their faces to the world is as close as some will ever get to the discomfort of a cancer sufferer? How do all these people who have slammed these women know how much they do or don't support charity's and research organisations, they don't. My personal campaign will be a week of make up free selfies in support of these women. People who have me as a 'Facebook friend' (and Instagram follower) will be exposed to me bare faced everyday for a week and those who take issue with my support of these women, I encourage to unfriend me and unfollow me, because people who need to voice their negativity or any opinion at all that makes another person feel even slightly bad about who they are and the personal choices they make regardless of the context/platform don't need to waste their very precious minutes of this short life viewing my less than perfect complexion.... I mean who knows what kind of opinions they may have.
Just adding a small note. A friend who has joined the campaign just added a very valid comment: anything that makes you stop, think and check has gotta be good for early detection!!
I agree with this 100%
Well done all of you gorgeous women who are beautiful inside and out.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Becoming an 'available mum'
Another of my endeavours, or rather this is more an experiment. I'll call it an experiment as I'm sure I will tweak a few things along the way. This week, and yes I have given it a one week timeframe, I am shutting down some of the main distractions in our lives for at least 90% of the time (or thereabouts, I haven't done the maths lol). Our biggest household distractions are Tv, movies, the Internet, game consoles and mobile phones. So I have made the decision that the children won't use any of the above and will only be allowed half an hour to an hour of Tv/DVD in the afternoon after school while I prepare dinner. As for me, I'm not overly fussed about missing the regular Tv, my biggest distraction is social networking (Facebook) and watching catch up shows on the Internet. So I won't be using any of the above, my only two exceptions are blogging (which I hardly do) and Instagram (as I'm doing the '100 happy days' challenge and it's good for my soul). I feel like this will make me become a more available parent. When there's no rush to get back to the Tv or computer I think i will be able to spend more time enjoying each moment. I also believe that my boys will appreciate each others company more and learn how to 'play' again. I'm getting ready for quite a few days of complaint and fights but I hope that we make it through the week and come to the realisation that we don't actually need that stuff as a constant in our life. Right now I'm not feeling like the best parent, especially to the little guys that's still at home with me, so for me this is something that my children deserve for me to do and encourage. Day one is nearly over and we've almost made it. Can only look forward to making it through the next 6 x
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