What made this awards announcement extra special for me, was that I've been placed in the Inspire category. My blog wasn't started with the aim of inspiring anybody; all I hoped for originally was a little more understanding of Sasha, and her condition, in the hope that it would help our little family.
I've been writing this blog for six years now, and in that time it has grown and developed just as we have as a family. My main focus is still to educate the world about Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), in order to help other families who live with this every day. People have approached me independently for advice and to say thank you for talking about it, and that means so much. Helping the families also helps the children of course, and that knowledge is what keeps me going. If I can persuade just one person, parent or professional, to 'change their lenses', then I feel I've achieved something (please, click that link, it's so worth it!).
The Inspire category is full of amazing ladies who have obviously all touched other people's lives in some way, and I'm proud to be on that list alongside them. They mostly have tens of thousands of followers on social media though and I really am 'small fry' in comparison. I'm not that hot on design and technology, and I never feel like I have a spare moment in any day, so I have to make the most of what I've got in terms of blogging. I've always felt like I'm writing about a very small, niche subject, which not everyone agrees with, and all I can do is gently persuade others that this is real. This is our life. My gut feeling is that there are so many more families who could be helped if they just knew about PDA.
This has been one of the hardest blog posts I've ever had to write; if it was on a bit of paper I'd have scrunched it up and thrown it away a hundred times. Although I do know that I won't win the category, a part of me would like to have that chance to make a brief acceptance speech; to explain why I write now, to have the chance to get PDA even more on everyone's radar, but most importantly to be able to say Thank You to everyone who has supported me, and Sasha, along the way. I already feel like a winner though; to have even made it onto the shortlist is a huge achievement for me. So thank you all for reading and voting.
Ten blogs have been chosen in the Inspire category for these BiBs awards and they now need to be whittled down to a Top Five before the evening of the Awards.
It would mean so very much to me to get into that Top Five, so please, if you can spare just a minute, please click on the badge below which will take you a page where you then click on 'vote for shortlisted blogs', then it's just your name to enter, scroll down to the Inspire heading and click on the dot where it says Steph's Two Girls.
Voting closes at midnight on the 18th May; apologies in advance for the times I will have to repeat this message for any busy people who intend to 'do it later' (as so often happens with me!).
