SocialButterfly

Quote of the Week: Removing Barriers

Monday, March 29th, 2010 | Quote of the Week | 3 Comments

Most of you have never met or read anything from the person with this week’s quote–but she is one of the most insightful people I know and has an authentic, strong, persistent heart for serving others. She is my mom–the woman I call the original SocialButterfly. Allow me the second to thank my family and ancestors.

“Sometimes, we work so hard to change a person. When, what they really need from us, is to help them remove the barriers blocking them from changing themselves.”

I don’t know about you–but what a change in perspective! We often look at the point of behavior and often, we tell people over and over to run, not to smoke, eat healthy, get tested for STDs and everything else under the sun. Even–come out with us on a Friday night or meet me for breakfast in the morning. We want people to make choices, decisions.

But how often, do we look at people and find the boulders in their life? And how often are we helping to lift those boulders rather than tell them of the great valley that lives on the other side? Do we see their needs? Are we listening? For example, how can someone take a walk–if they don’t have sidewalks? Instead of wanting them and telling them to start walking, what if we helped them build a sidewalk? Or, instead of telling someone to eat healthier, teaching them how to grow and cook good foods. Or, making certain foods more affordable. Or, listening to their trials and tribulations, so they can feel cared for and loved and empowered to make healthy decisions.

Just a thought passed on from my mom. Did I mention she’s pretty great? 

flickr credit: Okinawa Soba

Tags: barriers, change, choices, decisions, empowerment, perspective, Quote

Happy Birthday SocialButterfly…and Me!

Monday, December 22nd, 2008 | SocialButterfly | 7 Comments

Today marks SocialButterfly’s 1-year birthday.

This past year was full of surprises, new adventures, and has been such a great whirlwind that I feel much like the kitten in the picture – trying to catch my breathe and “paws.” My anthem for 2008 was “Too Blessed to be Stressed,” and many times, I found myself needing to be reminded of just that.

This past year, I:

• Moved 4 times, one being from the middle of the Missouri River in Columbia, Missouri to the row houses of Capitol Hill.
• Have been deliriously happy as a new bride-to-be. After a two-year, long distance relationship, my honey and I are now sharing the same city and enjoying building a new life together. Bless our hearts, we looked at 33 different places in DC before we decided upon our current apartment. Needless to say, I felt like we had earned our real estate licenses!
• I graduated grad school, finished a fellowship, wrote and presented my thesis paper across the pond, and began a full-time gig doing what I love – social marketing and social media marketing.
• Worked with a total of about 8 part-time volunteers, including my parents, one of my best friends, and a few people from our community in Arkansas, through a grassroots effort, created and built a fund raiser for Multiple Sclerosis and raised over $70,000 in one night – making my total efforts in four years of MS fund raising a total of $325k+.
• Made many new friends and colleagues that continue to inspire me through Changebloggers, motivate me through connections on Twitter and online community, support me in my development and run the race with me….so to all you readers and friends, I hope I have done the same for you in return. If not, give me a little kick in the pants, and I’ll get going.

For 2009, who knows what will be next….but I promise you, we’ll be sure to keep it interesting. As a fellow reminder to both myself and my readers, keep perspective, and as a friend of mine once told me, “Keep the main thing, the main thing.”

Not only is it the blog’s birthday this week, but it’s also mine…in case the title through you for a loop. =)

flickr credit: loveberries
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Tags: 2008, 2009, birthday, blogging, blogversary, Changebloggers, education, fundraising, happy birthday, inspiration, motivation, online community, perspective, professional, support, twitter, Washington D.C.