What do you see?
Do you see a glass half empty, a cookie half eaten, and half a mess still to clean?
Or…do you see a glass half full, half a cookie to enjoy, and half the job done with progress being made!
There are two ways of looking at most things in life, aren’t there?
Recently I read an article that spoke about the power of the mindset shift. It was a great reminder to me of what a change in perspective can do!
The author gave the example of an employee coming late to work and their employer impatiently waiting for them to show up. As the employee walked into the building the employer pounced on them with the words “Why are you late?! You are disrupting the workflow around here!” (and a few other choice words).
But the author then asked the question: what if the employer had shifted his perspective? What if instead they had commented quietly to the employee “hey, I’ve noticed you are coming in late—everything okay?” The energy, the emotions would all have shifted with that expression of genuine care.
Our perspective can make all the difference in how we take the next step. And sometimes we need to shift our perspective in order to see the progress or contribute constructively. It’s a good reminder for all of us!
Here’s how we’ve been shifting our perspective lately in our work at Defend Dignity.
Aid — Last month our Survivor Support Fund fall intake received far more survivor applications (62) than we 
could hope to fund with our budget. It’s always difficult and disappointing that we aren’t able to help everyone who applies. But when we shift our perspective a bit, we can recognize how we were still able to give much needed help to many of the survivors who applied, and how we’ve been able to help hundreds of survivors over the past 8 years. The Survivor Support Fund is helping to transform lives!
Advocacy – Things can take a long time to get done in parliament! Since 2022 we have been a sponsor of the SISE Act (Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation Act), also known as Bill C-270. We and many others 
want to see this important bill passed into law but it feels like a really slow process. Will it ever get done?
When we shift our perspective, though, we can see that progress is being made! The bill is coming before the Justice Committee in November for review and Defend Dignity has even been able to suggest a witness that can testify to the merits of the bill. Yes! This is moving forward!
Awareness – Sometimes the issues we are contending with are overwhelming. The world of online harms, particularly for kids and teens, is alarming and can feel very heavy. But when we shift our perspective, we see how our Digital Dignity webinar series is making a positive impact on this issue! We are equipping 
parents with great info and strategies to keep their kids safe online. The webinar series has over 200 people registered and it’s being shared around by people who have found it helpful. We are making a difference!
Will you join us in shifting your perspective? Together let’s be creative and intentional in seeing the progress being made in all areas of our lives!
- Would you consider donating $25 to Defend Dignity to help us cover the cost of this webinar series Digital Dignity and for future webinars?
- If you haven’t already, register for the webinar series! Join us on November 12 as Caitlin Roper of Collective Shout joins us to share about AI Deepfake harms, and then on November 26th for a LIVE panel featuring MP Arnold Viersen, Carol Todd, and Katelyn Ranasinghe with live Q&A. If you have missed the past 2 webinars, you can catch up on them here or wait until we send the entire series to all registrants at the end of November.
Thank you for partnering with us as we work to genuinely impact the lives of others for good!
Julia Ellergodt is the Interim Executive Director of Defend Dignity
