Dear Thyroid^TM

Speaking for myself, embracing change is difficult. Oh, who the fuck am I kidding, it’s impossible, especially if change is forced upon me; than I can be a no-joke snatch-stick on wheels. Like when I was diagnosed with Graves’ disease. That’s another story for another day, isn’t it? Being a chronic duality, of course, outside of having GD, I do embrace some (working on it), not all, change. I love new beginnings, deeming them as having the power to invoke unexpected further change.

Let’s take the migration of Dear Thyroid’s old site to the new site as an example. You’ve all shown me how beautifully change can be embraced—YOU’RE DOING IT. I am so proud of you! We have a new site, and yes, it’s different, but it’s exciting and new. And we will find our way,

We’ve just launched Dear Thyroid Meet-ups locally. And so many of you have jumped on board; I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your receptivity to this idea. I believe so hard in the power of online/offline support and community, our community. WE NEED EACH OTHER, evidenced by what we’ve created here. The ability to support each other offline too, well, that’s a dream come true. So much so, it brings tears to my eyes. We have one meet-up scheduled in Pembroke and two more soon to be scheduled in Chicago, Raleigh, Minneapolis and Marin County. I want us to keep this going and continue our Meet-up/Tweet-up Dear Thyroid endeavors. Believe me; I will be hocking youse aplenty!

Keeping with the theme of our community, the sacred space that we’ve created, we are committed to bringing greater change to improve OUR collective quality of support. And, and, and, to give face to this disease and continue giving it a voice — to create awareness and so much more. Keep writing letters and sending them in. Keep sharing your stories—good, bad, happy, sad, whatever it is, whatever you feel, write, write, write your hearts and guts out.

Sigh… now that I’ve hocked everyone to death, shall we move onto this week’s searches? Oh, wait; did you all see November’s Dear Thyroid Flickr Pool? The theme is SYMPTOMS. Please submit your photos and blurbs! We also added more T-shirts and things to the Dear Thyroid Store.

THIS WEEK’S SEARCHES

• Dear Thyroid Alcohol – Not a bad idea. Who’s up for creating DT Hooch? I say we call it, Thyshine.
• 1 Month Detox Torture – That’s the point, sugar. Eventually, you’ll be glad you did it because you’ll feel so great. Try the Liver Detox Challenge. Good pain right there, yo.
• All Food Ruins Your Thyroid – Seriously, Dramarella?! Not all food, just 99.9 ¾% of food.
• Apathy Means Thyroid Issues – Here’s a thought… FUCK YOU. Apathy does not beget a thyroid issue (Katie, what’s with you jumping on the snatch express so quickly? I’m protective of my tribe, yo).
• Can a Bad Thyroid Kill You – Why yes it can, or at the very least, leave you feeling like you have one foot on the peel. It’s fun; wanna join the Jacked Thyroid Club? Membership in the Gland Canyon has its benefits, really it does.
• DearThyroid.orgh – Wait, were you trying to say, Dear Thyroid Orgy? Try Thyrgy.

It’s been an interesting week, wouldn’t you say?

Love,

Me

Just for today, in honor of our new site launch and in the interest of continuing to reach out to each other in as many ways as possible, we wanted to post tweet-ups. Tomorrow, we will resume posting letters, of course. By the by, have you sent us a letter lately? Thought about writing one? Go for it! Email them to submissions@dearthyroid.com.

Here’s a question for you: what maybe, possibly, could ever match the amazing community and support we’ve got going on right here at Dear Thyroid? If your first answer would be “nothing”, then think again!  The only thing that could compete with the level of honesty and awesomeness is, actually, a Dear Thyroid Tweet-Up! Yes, a Tweet-Up.

For those of you not familiar with Tweet-Ups, they are, essentially, meet-ups.  You know, groups of Dear Thyroid users meeting up for coffee or dinner or drinks, or whatever other creative and chit-chatty social events we can dream up.  The point is for those of us who normally chat it up via our website to actually meet face-to-face and continue the Dear Thyroid lovefest.

This is open to anyone, no matter where you happen to live. What you’ll do is email us the specifics of the Tweet-Up you have in mind, and we’ll add it to the calendar on our site.  That way, fellow thyroidians from all walks of life and all locations on the planet can check out exactly when and where said Tweet-Up will take place.

But it gets even better!  Once you get all the details together and actually do meet-up with other Dear Thyroid users, we want to see your lovely, smiling faces.  That means, take pictures!  What would be even better is if you take pictures of your Tweet-Up in some Dear Thyroid gear — shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, etc. We want to see you proudly displaying your thyroid disease for all to see!

Let the Tweet-Ups begin!

Got an Q’s? Email us and let’s get this baby going.

Love,

Dear Thyroid