Posts

Showing posts from January, 2016

The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly of Being Part of an Online Support Group

Image
I honestly did not feel the need to seek a support group, let alone a support group on Facebook, when I received an invitation to join first one group and then another. Soon I was hooked. I can easily now spend an hour reading and replying to posts about children with needs similar to my son’s. For the first time, I was looking at pictures of families like mine. I saw posts about challenging moments, illness, and death. I saw honesty and vulnerability, pain and sadness, and I liked that because to me that is reality--- I see that where I work very frequently. I have cried over children lost and I’ve been filled with fear for what might come our way. I have also rejoiced for the happy moments and the recoveries. There is a time to cry and a time to laugh. Being part of an online support group showed me as well what’s going better and worse for others. For someone like me, who often falls prey to social comparison, this is a double-edged sword. On one hand, I’ve seen how good we’ve