How Advocacy Can Give You Strength During Difficult Times
Difficult times can make a person feel smaller than the life they are trying to live. A diagnosis, a loss, a family challenge, a business setback, or a season of uncertainty can narrow the world until the next step feels like the only thing in view. Advocacy does not erase that reality. It does not make pain simple, neat, or inspirational on command.
What advocacy can do is give hardship somewhere useful to go. It can turn private frustration into public purpose, isolation into connection, and uncertainty into action. For Greg Schaefer, whose life brings together family, leadership, endurance sports, Parkinson’s awareness, and the Forward Motion Fund, advocacy is not about pretending life is easy. It is about choosing forward motion when standing still would be understandable.
Quick answer: how advocacy builds strength
- It gives pain a direction. Advocacy can help transform a difficult experience into something that serves others.
- It creates connection. Sharing, supporting, volunteering, fundraising, or speaking up can reduce the sense of carrying hardship alone.
- It restores agency. Even small actions can remind you that you still have choices, a voice, and a role to play.
- It builds meaning over time. Advocacy does not remove the hard parts, but it can help them become part of a larger mission.
Advocacy gives difficult experiences a place to go
One of the hardest parts of adversity is the feeling that energy has nowhere useful to land. Anger, grief, fear, and confusion can circle internally. Advocacy gives some of that energy a channel. It can become a conversation, a donation, a race, a speech, a support group, a mentorship moment, or a decision to help someone else feel less alone.
This matters because difficult times often strip away the illusion of control. Advocacy does not give total control back. No honest form of advocacy promises that. But it can offer a practical kind of agency: the ability to respond, contribute, and move one meaningful step forward.
That step may be public, like speaking on a stage, leading a fundraiser, or joining a community event. It may also be quiet, like checking on a caregiver, sharing a useful resource, or choosing language that gives people dignity instead of pity. Both forms count.
It can turn isolation into connection
Hard seasons can be lonely, even for people surrounded by family, colleagues, and friends. Many people do not know how to talk about illness, uncertainty, grief, or fear. Others want to help but are unsure what to say. Advocacy can create a bridge between the person going through something difficult and the people who want to understand.
For someone living with Parkinson’s, supporting a loved one, or navigating another major life challenge, advocacy can make the invisible parts of the experience easier to name. It can also help others see the whole person, not just the challenge in front of them. That distinction is important. Greg’s story is not only about Parkinson’s. It is also about fatherhood, marriage, business leadership, endurance, discipline, community, and the decision to keep moving with purpose.
Connection does not require sharing everything. Advocacy can be personal without being performative. You can set boundaries. You can decide what is private, what is useful to share, and what kind of impact feels aligned with your values.
It helps replace helplessness with useful action
When life changes suddenly, people often search for something they can do. Advocacy gives that instinct a constructive shape. The action does not have to be large to be meaningful. In many cases, the most sustainable advocacy starts small and becomes stronger over time.
For one person, advocacy may mean learning enough to explain a condition more clearly to family. For another, it may mean supporting a research organization, showing up for a community event, or using a personal platform to raise awareness. For a leader, it may mean creating a culture where people can bring real challenges to work without losing their dignity. For an athlete, it may mean proving that a difficult diagnosis does not get to define the entire story.
The point is not to turn every hardship into a campaign. The point is to recognize that action, even modest action, can help a person feel less trapped inside the problem.
What people often miss about advocacy
Advocacy is sometimes mistaken for constant public visibility. In reality, some of the strongest advocacy is steady, practical, and deeply human. It is not always a microphone. Sometimes it is a meal delivered at the right time, a ride to an appointment, a team that learns how to support a colleague, or a donor who quietly helps fund work that matters.
Another overlooked truth is that advocacy can strengthen the advocate, too. Not because giving back makes hardship disappear, but because mission can help organize pain. It gives people a reason to keep showing up on days when motivation is thin. It reminds them that their experience may become useful to someone else.
That kind of strength is not loud. It is earned. It is built through repeated choices, honest conversations, and the willingness to take one more step when the road feels uncertain.
Practical ways to begin advocating during a hard season
If you are in the middle of something difficult, advocacy does not have to start with a major commitment. Start with the form of action that fits your energy, your boundaries, and your season of life.
- Tell the truth in one safe place. A trusted friend, support group, clinician, coach, or mentor can be a starting point.
- Share one helpful resource. Passing along credible information can support someone who is just beginning their own journey.
- Support an aligned organization. Giving time, attention, or resources can connect your experience to a broader mission.
- Use your role wisely. Parents, leaders, athletes, business owners, and community members can all advocate from where they already stand.
- Protect your boundaries. Advocacy should not require overexposure or emotional exhaustion to be meaningful.
Greg’s speaking work reflects this same idea: strength is not about denying adversity. It is about building the discipline, perspective, and support to keep moving through it with purpose.
Advocacy can be a form of forward motion
The phrase “One More Step… Just One More” works because it is realistic. It does not ask a person to solve the entire future at once. It asks for the next step. Advocacy often works the same way. You do what you can, with what you have, from where you are.
In difficult times, that may be enough to begin. One conversation can become connection. One event can become community. One act of support can become momentum. One personal story, shared with care, can help someone else feel less alone.
Advocacy does not make hardship beautiful. It makes hardship useful. It gives strength a direction and purpose a place to live.
FAQ
Do I have to share my personal story to be an advocate?
No. Personal storytelling can be powerful, but it is not the only form of advocacy. You can advocate through service, support, fundraising, education, leadership, volunteering, or helping connect people to credible resources.
Can advocacy help when I still feel overwhelmed?
It can be part of the process, but it should match your capacity. Advocacy is not about ignoring your own needs. Sometimes the strongest first step is accepting support before offering it to others.
What makes advocacy feel authentic instead of performative?
Authentic advocacy is grounded in service, honesty, and respect. It does not exaggerate, exploit hardship, or reduce people to a diagnosis or struggle. It keeps the humanity of the people involved at the center.
How can organizations support advocacy in a meaningful way?
Organizations can invite credible speakers, support mission-aligned initiatives, create space for honest conversations, and back causes that reflect their values. The strongest support is practical, consistent, and respectful.
Interested in bringing Greg’s message to your event or organization?
Learn more about Greg’s speaking work or get in touch to start the conversation.
Contact Greg or learn more about the Forward Motion Fund.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. For diagnosis, treatment, or personalized medical guidance, please speak with a qualified healthcare professional.
