#Dblogweek Catching Up: Days 1 & 2

Message Monday - Monday 5/16

Lets kick off the week by talking about why we are here, in the diabetes blog space. What is the most important diabetes awareness message to you? Why is that message important for you, and what are you trying to accomplish by sharing it on your blog?

I started my blog in December 2012, about a week after binge-reading Kerri Sparling’s blog (sixuntilme.com). In short, reading about the life of others living with type 1 diabetes made me feel like I wasn’t alone in this relatively rare condition, and helped me feel more optimistic about my future, as well as more committed to caring about my diabetes instead of having it always be on the back-burner. Starting the blog in many ways was and continues to be my therapy, but over the years I also came to realize that my voice is important, because like everyone else’s, it’s unique, and has the potential to possibly help someone else. I don’t have a particular message to give, besides perhaps – you are not alone, and that the diabetes online community (#doc) is vast and helpful. And that’s why I am here!

The Other Half of Diabetes - Tuesday 5/17
We think a lot about the physical component of diabetes, but the mental component is just as significant. How does diabetes affect you or your loved one mentally or emotionally? How have you learned to deal with the mental aspect of the condition? Any tips, positive phrases, mantras, or ideas to share on getting out of a diabetes funk? (If you are a caregiver to a person with diabetes, write about yourself or your loved one or both!)

Most of the time I am pretty upbeat in general, and that includes my feelings about diabetes. I am constantly saying how lucky I am to be alive today, and not 100 years ago, and to have always-improving technology to help me achieve the best control possible – in particular a meter and a continuous glucose monitor that provide quick data. I do my best not to dwell on transient highs and lows, as that is part of life with diabetes, and part of life in general. When I feel down however, is when I feel that diabetes has just made some kind of major interruption or caused a shift in my life. When I see in writing that people with diabetes will not be allowed to participate in the scuba diving, when I feel fearful that I may need medical attention when I have a stomach bug and no matter what I do I can’t seem to bring my blood sugar up, when I have to stop what I am doing and sit and eat. In the long run, these moments are greatly outnumbered by the better moments of “I can do this, I am doing this, watch me.” I would be lying however if I said that the low moments don’t take their toll – they do. Sometimes, I feel jealous of people who can eat and exercise without considering... anything. Sometimes, it feels unfair. I try to remind myself that I have not walked in their shoes so to speak, and that everyone has their challenges, but I cannot help but feel like living with diabetes is a pretty massive challenge, simply because it’s all the time, never-ending, life-threatening, and can be very scary to deal with. Again, most days, it’s just like brushing my teeth, a minor annoyance, and not very time-consuming. But not all days are like that. “This too shall pass” is a phrase I know applies to everything, diabetes included. But perhaps the very best way I deal with emotions surrounding diabetes (and life in general) revolves around my mother’s favorite phrase: “Life is like a sine graph.” A few months ago, I wrote a guest-post on diabetesdailygrind.com about this and I invite you to visit it here: http://www.diabetesdailygrind.com/finding-my-flow-through-one-trigonometry-function/’