Journal entry No. 4 - Reflection
Summary
Tim reflects on the purpose and vision of the Invisible Condition podcast, which aims to elevate voices and end the stigma surrounding invisible conditions. He shares his journey of overcoming health challenges and the birth of the podcast. The importance of reflection and the power of sharing stories are emphasized. The host envisions building Invisible Condition as a nonprofit and bringing conversations about inclusion and accommodations into workplaces and schools. The goal is to create a society where invisible conditions are embraced and met with empathy and compassion.
Takeaways
Reflection is a powerful tool for personal growth and envisioning the future.
Sharing stories can create meaningful connections and drive social change.
Building Invisible Condition as a nonprofit aims to bring conversations about inclusion and accommodations into workplaces and schools.
The goal is to create a society where invisible conditions are embraced and met with empathy and compassion.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast
02:09 Reflecting on the Journey of Invisible Condition
03:39 Challenges and Reflection
04:02 Seriousness and Resetting
05:03 Defining the Purpose of Invisible Condition
06:27 The Power of Sharing Stories
08:04 Building Invisible Condition and the Vision
09:30 Creating Conversations and Driving Change
10:29 Reflecting on Personal Growth and Overcoming Challenges
11:47 The Voice of Doubt and the Power of Sharing
13:23 Reflecting on the Past and Vision for the Future
14:15 Establishing Invisible Condition as a Nonprofit
15:16 Letting Go of Anxiety and Having Fun
16:13 Empowering Voices to End Stigma
Transcript
Hey, Tim here, hosting the Invisible Condition podcast, a show where we talk about unusually normal things. Now our purpose here is to end the stigma attached to invisible conditions by empowering voices and driving social change. Now, when you hear that, what comes up for you? What resonates? I've been playing around with this wording for far too long and to the point where, yeah, it was getting overwhelming.
The last few days before recording this have been challenging and I've been doing a lot of reflecting, hence the word of today's journal entry, reflection. The goal is to build Invisible Condition as a nonprofit. It's not possible to do so without, without you and your support and your help. And there's already been so much generosity.
As I sit here and reflect as to where invisible condition has come from and where I have the vision to bring it. It's exciting, scary, overwhelming, challenging, you name it. All the words are popping in my mind. But a friend of mine, Chris Ho posted out on LinkedIn, a post about reflecting and not comparing ourselves to others. That was one big takeaway.
Think about where we were this time last year. Now I'm recording this December, 2023. And this time last year, I was too sick for surgery. My doctors say, hey, we want to try and save as much as your intestine as possible. So you need to get healthy, which meant drinking a lot of Insure, having a lot of iron infusions, going for blood transfusion, starting a new medication to get healthy. And it worked.
That time last year was hard. It was tough. It was challenging. And all I wanted to do was get healthy enough to hang out with my family to get outside to ride my bike again. But I also wanted to stop hiding. I wanted to step out of that fear of sharing how I actually am doing into this place of embracing what makes me normal. And my normal, and I've shared this numerous times, is multiple bathroom breaks in a day.
I'm recording this and often I think of what am I going to do if I have to run to the washroom? Do I hit pause, edit it out? And I decided, no, not going to. But reflecting on the journey that 2023 has been for me and my family is honestly a catalyst for invisible condition. As I reflect and vision to where I see this project going.
I can't do it without people like you, without people who tune in to listen, to share out the content. Building something is scary, regardless of what every Instagram post says, how easy it is to build a business, to build an organization, to build a following. It's challenging. But I believe in this cause. I believe in the power of our stories.
Our collective stories. And I know there's power in this because people have reached out to me. You know, I had someone reach out to me and say, I need to share my story. Not because I've been told to share it, but if my story can help one person, that's all that matters. One person.
who is struggling to advocate for themselves. One person who is struggling to share their story with their friends or their family. One person who's tired of saying, I'm good when they're really not. That's what this is about. So as I sit here and reflect back on 2023 and, and I vision what is to come in 2024. You know, my goal is, is to not just raise awareness.
but to bring invisible condition into workplaces, into schools, to have conversations that might make others and make us uncomfortable. Conversations about what inclusion truly means. What accommodations do we need to thrive in the workplace? Conversations like how do we bring up our invisible conditions with our friends and our family?
And as we receive these stories, how should we react? That's what I want to bring into the world. Through the power of podcasts, through the power of video, through the power of blogs, that's the vision. So the word reflection, I encourage you to take a pause today and reflect back on the last six months, where have you come from? What have you overcome?
Maybe you're struggling.
Maybe when you look back, you don't like where you are today. And if so, reach out to me. Contact information is all up on the website, visi Reach out to me on LinkedIn. Just search my name, Tim Reitsma. R E I T S M A. So many people have, and I love that. And I encourage, I encourage you to reach out. I don't necessarily have all the answers. Actually, I know I don't have many answers.
And if I don't, maybe there's some words of encouragement I can leave you with. Or maybe I could just sit there and listen and put a virtual hand on your shoulder and maybe we can cry together. Maybe we can laugh together.
So as I, again, I reflect back onto 2023, laying on the couch for days and days, overcoming surgery and arthritis flares, to getting on my bike and going for bike rides with my family, for pivoting my career, for leaving a steady paycheck to try and build something that I truly believe in. Scary.
There's a voice inside of me that says, just go get a job. Stop doing this. And honestly, I'm turning that voice into motivation today. You know, as I say that, I'm getting a little choked up because how often do we have these voices in our heads that are saying, you don't need to tell your story. Nobody needs to know. Just keep living like you are.
This is as good as it gets.
For me, sharing my story has driven such meaningful connections with people, has opened up stories. I had a story with a dental hygienist while I was getting my teeth cleaned because I opened up about living with Crohn's. She was asking questions because her brother is really suffering with IBD symptoms.
How amazing is that?
That's the power of our story.
story that you have, that you have to share may meet someone where they are today, may drive a connection that you didn't know existed. So as part of reflection, that exercise of looking into the past, it's an opportunity to think about the vision for the future.
My vision is, you know, sure metrics, hundreds of downloads. We've raised significant money to keep, uh, invisible condition going. We've established as a nonprofit in order to do that. So more to come on that in the future, but we have told hundreds of stories and have reached thousands of people. How does that sound?
If you're excited about that, if you're motivated by that, reach out to me. Well, let's connect. Um, I had my first volunteer sign up, uh, just a few weeks ago, which is wild to think about, um, because we haven't even established as a nonprofit, but that just tells me that there's some significance in this.
So 2024 is the year that we are established as a nonprofit. We're working towards charity status. That's the goal. We are speaking in front of crowds in workplaces, schools, stadiums, whatever that looks like of audiences of one or a thousand.
Whether it's me or a network of volunteers that are bringing this message into, uh, into the world. The message of, of hope, the power of storytelling, the story of what makes us normal.
So as I wrap up 2023 and think about 2024, yeah, it's a, it's a big ask. It's a big ask out of vulnerability is, is would you consider how to support invisible condition, how you can support invisible condition. So today I'm letting go of that anxiety, that fear, that seriousness and we're gonna have some fun.
We're gonna tell some stories. We're gonna we're gonna talk about things that might make us a little uncomfortable like the Bristol stool chart. What? We're gonna talk about colonoscopies. We're gonna talk about medical appointments. We're gonna talk about advocacy. We're gonna talk about telling our families these stories that we've been hiding. We're gonna talk about all sorts of things, but the central message is, if we empower voices, we're going to end this stigma. As I'm rambling on, just this thought popped in my mind is I want my kids to grow up in a place, in a school system, in a society, in a workplace where if they live with something invisible, they don't hide it, they embrace it. And if they so choose to share their story, that it is met with empathy with compassion, with accommodation, with love. That's what we're building. So, uh, as I wrap up this journal entry, I hope you have a great day and inspired day and think about the story that you have to share.
