Breast Cancer Awareness Month during a pandemic – Silence is still not an option, but pacing yourself is

Here we are. Another October. Another Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (This is BCAM # 36, if I’m counting right.) One week down. Another 21 days or so of who knows what coming down the pink pipeline.

Does BCAM feel different this year?

I mean, there’s the pandemic, deep political divides (even within families), the election, the social unrest, the crazy weather, the fires, the hurricanes, the joblessness, the uncertainty about what seems like almost everything and let’s not forget all the cancer crap that continues to wreak havoc in so many lives – perhaps in yours.

Does anyone even have the time to think about BCAM, much less the spare energy needed to focus on it, especially during a pandemic?

Does any of what we’ve said (for years now) and continue to say matter?

Have we even made a dent in changing the overly pinktified, stale narrative?

Hmm, your guess is a good as mine. Probably better.

I counted up the posts I’ve written over the past ten years during BCAM. There have been close to 50. And those are just the ones written specifically in Octobers past. Even I got bored sifting through them all.

I mean, good grief. How many times and how many ways can we keep saying the same things?

Well, like I say every year, as many times as it takes. Yep. Just like when teaching. You just keep trying.

Advocacy is never about one day or one month anyway. (Again, just like teaching.)

No, it’s an ongoing, do what you can when you feel up to it sort of thing.

So, even this year when there’s so much shit going on and despite the uncertainty, silence is not an option. Not for me anyway. Mainly, because you never know who might be listening.

If you feel like being silent, that’s okay. I get it. Pretty sure we all relate. Come back out in November or whenever you feel up to it.

Successful advocacy takes the work of many. When some are too weary, (and I’m just gonna say it, when some are too sick and yes, even die), it’s up to the rest of us to pick up the slack.

It’s not like October’s the only month that advocacy work needs doing. Nope, it’s a 365 days a year thing.

So remember, whatever you decide to do (or not do) regarding BCAM this year (or any year), it’s fine.

Silence may or may not be your best option.

For sure, pacing yourself always is.

That’s what I’m trying to do.

What about you?

Does BCAM feel different to you this year or pretty much the same?

How are you trying to pace yourself?

What is one thing you want people to better understand about breast cancer?