When I say “winning,” please don’t think it means I have perfect blood sugars, or I am skipping through this journey with bliss. Hella no. This disease is hard BUT in the last 26 years, I have unknowingly grown to love it.
You see, I was diagnosed in second grade, which is also where most of my memories begin, and I have always expressed, written and stated we need to live life to the fullest. I believe with every single one of my doctor’s appointments, shots, blood sugar tests/pricks, I fear death, and with that fear, I want to live and appreciate every minute I have in my life.
Am I alone with this thought? I don’t think so. Last month at the Weekend for Women, Diabetes Sister’s conference I attended in DC, the keynote came from Shawn Shepheard, who happened to also have type 1 diabetes. He shared that on Christmas, many moons ago, when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, he needed to immediately “squeeze every minute out of life.” What an honest thought, and I recognized that he too doesn’t want to downplay the health statistics that are not in our favor, but rather he wants to use this fuel to seek happiness.
Like Shawn – I am “winning with diabetes” because it has given me the opportunity to be more connected to my soul, my purpose, my passion and serves as a reminder to seek happiness and adventure.
I have accepted my limitations and I continue to push beyond them and I thank gratitude for the solution.
How are you winning in life?
What a powerful and encouraging couple of paragraphs, my husband was just diagnosed this past week with type 2, he is 61 i am 57, so this is a new challenge for us later in our life’s but reading this helped me start our morning, we are struggling getting his count down, but we are determined.
Hi Melody – thank you for spending some time on my site and including a comment on this post. I am sure this a new chapter for you both in learning diabetes and caring for each other. Use each day to address, assess and apply change. It will get easier.