February is Black History Month in the U.S. and this last week of February was the beginning of Eating Disorder Awareness Week. These are important events that help to raise awareness and every month there are new events that pop up all around the world to bring attention to important issues like these. So, I wanted to take some time this month to reflect on what it means to raise awareness and why it’s important.
Raising awareness can take many shapes and forms and, for me, the key component is education. How do we educate ourselves about an issue? How can we help educate others about this issue? Once we understand the issue, what can we do about it? All these questions are part of what it means to raise awareness. Usually, raising awareness has to start with ourselves - if we don’t understand the intricacies of an issue then we cannot take any further action and the awareness stops there.
So, what can we do to raise awareness within ourselves? Well, the process of being aware means to consciously make an effort to pay attention to something. Things like reading books, watching documentaries, movies, dramas, or listening to people with lived experiences of this issue are all things that can start the process of raising awareness. These are all conscious actions that we can take to educate ourselves about a topic.
So, now what? Once you’ve got a grasp on the topic and understand the situation you can try spreading awareness to others. This could be as simple as telling your friends, family, co-workers, about what you read or heard about the topic - start the conversation. You can also utilise things like social media to share posts that relate to the topic or amplify people who have lived experiences of the issue.
The last step to raising awareness can be taking some action to help address the issue. This could look like donating to charity, volunteering your time, attending events or protests, using any resources that you might have to contribute. You can involve other people in this process, for example by raising money for charity in your community, or it can be something that you do on your own.
As I mentioned, raising awareness can take so many forms and it is often dependent on the specific issue at hand. But hopefully this blog might give you some ideas of where you can start and what steps you can take. While events that happen throughout the year are great and help provide a reminder for us, these issues don’t just stop existing after the event ends, after the week ends, or the month ends. Raising awareness is something that we need to continue to put time and effort into. Think carefully about what topics are important to you, what capacity you have and what resources you can spare. There is no perfect way to raise awareness - but remember that it starts with you.
If you want some more specific ideas and information about the events happening in February, take a look at my Instagram.
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