Paint Valentine's Day Green!

Valentine's Day is normally a day where everyone wears pink or red and thinks lovey dovey thoughts. Minds are consumed about what should be bought for that special someone in your life...chocolates...stuffed

animals...cards...diamonds...watches. Other people find the holiday rather loathsome because they don't have a significant other and just get to watch all of the people around them receive gifts from people while they're all alone. Others still just see it as another holiday that has fallen victim to commercialism. Just another way for The Man to get unsuspecting people to spend their money on frivolous items. This year, I suggest turning Valentine's Day on it's ear and doing it all differently...from the color you wear to what you spend your money on to who you think about to what you take pictures of.

Instead of wearing the obligatory pink, purple, or red on Valentine's Day, wear green for someone you know that is living with Gastroparesis...someone like me.

And instead of spending your money on chocolates that a Gastroparetic really shouldn't eat—but a lot of us love—why not donate it to an organization like G-PACT in our name. And those cutesie pictures of hearts and lovey-dovey quotes that get posted on Facebook and Instagram...switch them out with pictures of yourself dressed in green holding up a sign saying “I Wear Green For [Insert Name]” or “Go Green For Gastroparesis”. I'm not asking you to cancel your Valentine's Day, but lets paint it green and make awareness for this rare disease!

There is a hashtag campaign (for a lack of better words) going on through Facebook. When you wear green on Valentine's Day and you post pictures on social media, use the hashtags #StridingSisters and #WearGreen4GP so that the pictures can be tracked. This is all in an effort to create awareness for Gastroparesis, to get the word out there that this disease exists and that it is quite debilitating, but also that there are people out there who care, and that you can LIVE with it too.

Advocacy and awareness becomes a big thing when you end up with a disease like Gastroparesis. Doctors don't quite understand it, your friends definitely don't understand it, and your family tries to understand it; so you have to become your own advocate and educator. And it's not easy. Wearing green on Valentine's Day is an easy way to spread the word. It's also an easy way to tell a friend...Hey, I'm supporting you through your battle.