What next? What can I do that will be most powerful?

Thinking about some of the thyroid related things I would like to do once I've stopped running the BTF London Group.

While I need to move on with my life and don't want to be forever harping on about all things thyroid, I still feel passionately that it's important to raise awareness of thyroid disease and things that people can do to help themselves, also to raise standards of care for thyroid patients who are currently not always being treated consistently or well.  And while I salute BTF for all that they do, I feel there is scope for a great deal more to be done and as they are so under resourced and seemingly so slow to get themselves resourced up to do more, well it just seems like there's a glaring gap that needs to be addressed, so maybe I will give myself a project....

Will I:

• Write a book? 
• Pitch articles to magazines and periodicals?
• Pitch talks to groups of medical professionals?
• develop this blog as more of a resource?
• collaborate with a science writer to provide more articles on latest scientific research?
• Seek to influence Mind (the UK's leading mental health charity) to start to provide more information and support for thyroid patients, because they currently don't think it falls within their remit?

Ouch, so many possibilities, I could in fact quite easily spend my entire life on this stuff. And that's not going to happen. So I have some thinking to do and some decisions to make, what to do, what not to do, where to focus.

In the shorter term I am off to the House of Lords next week, to meet with my fellow BTF London Team of volunteers, kindly hosted by our wonderful patron, Lord Borwick of Hawkshead, who is also taking us on a tour of the House which will be exciting.

We will be seeking to find a way to keep the London Group going with me not running it any more. I am excited that nine enthusiastic and wonderful people are coming to that meeting, between them I'm sure they'll find a way to prevent the group from folding. The challenge is that everyone is either not very well, or super busy, or both. But the plan is to try and split the tasks so the load is shared, and perhaps to do things differently in future so that the whole thing can maybe be simplified and become less onerous to do.  

The House of Lords, Westminster

It's a little  ironic, to be going to such a seat of established power as the House of Lords and at the same time trying to decide what subsequent action I can take that will be most powerful in the face of what seems like an overwhelming challenge - how to make things better for hard to treat thyroid patients in this country.  I hope that this meeting can be a catalyst for meaningful change, somehow, someway. It signifies me moving forward powerfully into the world. Giving up the admin headache of running the group and freeing myself up to do something bigger.

Of course I may decide to leave thyroid things alone for a bit. I have a lot of other things going on in my life. Very many competing priorities. I may decide to focus on something else entirely. Perhaps my letting go of the group is also time to let go of the wider challenge and trust that other people are going to be able to bring about the changes that need to happen.  The BTF Hypothyroid Care Strategy Project is underway now after all, and I was one of the people who pushed for that to begin.

One of the many wonderful friends that I have connected with on this journey now seems to have entirely moved on and is pioneering an important campaign for muslim feminists. Her example inspires me. I feel I need some space to think and breath and the answer, to the question of what I want to do next, will come to me.

Hope