The last few weeks have been pretty busy and rather stressful. As a result I haven’t had the time or energy to focus on my blog and other endeavours that I would have liked to have been doing. Today I want to talk about Making an Impact.

I have so many things I’d like to write about but I wanted to respond to a reader’s question. It has been 2 months since Alison from Temporary Fatigue Syndrome contacted me asking about making an impact and expanding her blog. Here’s her question:

Hi, Megan! I was wondering how you have been able to make such an impact/how you got to where you are today with your blog. I want to make an impact but haven’t known where to start or how to do it. Since I’m dealing with this illness at 21, I almost wish there was a way to be in contact with other young people going through the same (most people I find online tend to be older). I recently started a blog, mainly as a way to interact with others and share what I have learned/how I am improving. How can I expand my blog, or even just make a bigger impact?

I don’t really know how to answer this question. When I first began this blog I wasn’t thinking about raising awareness of my conditions and making an impact in how people view those who are ill. Instead I started it as a way to make sense of what I was going through, to potentially make contact with others who were going through the same thing and share what was working or not working.

My blog has grown organically as I’ve made friends through the blogosphere and became more aware of the difficulties being faced by both myself and the others who suffer from similar conditions.

My suggestions for making an impact with a new blog:

1. Be Yourself. When you write posts, write about things that interest you. Share your own stories and the results of any research you have done. Don’t try to imitate any other people or write about things that you have not interest in.
2. Interact with others. Visit other blogs and comment on their posts. Find people you relate to and keep up communication with them. Ask people to join you in activities and join in when others are doing things. Share other people’s posts if they’re relevant to you and your audience.
3. Start small. When trying to make a difference, just focus on what you can do to help one or two people. As mentioned above, make friends with other bloggers. Find ways you can help them. If your actions are really helpful then (from my experience) the impact and experience grows by itself.
4. Listen to your readers. If someone suggests something, or has an issue with something you’ve written, take their thoughts on board. Either respond via a comment or email, or write a post about it.

Alison, I hope this post helps you and others like you who are interested in making a difference. As I’ve said multiple times above I found that an organic growth from ideas that help yourself and maybe one or two others tend to be the ones that help make a big impact in the long run.

Those of you who have been blogging for a while and found that your work makes an impact, do you have any advice to add to my comments above?

Don’t forget if you have a question for me you can use the Contact Us tab at the top of this blog to contact me. Also sign up for our newsletter if you want updates on the Foggy Frog campaign and how we’re working together to make an impact.