I have been living with diabetes for over 6 years now, my 7th diaversary is coming up on April 3, right around the corner. I try not to celebrate or give this day any special attention because it’s not a fun day to remember. Remembering being rushed to the hospital with a blood sugar of over 850 is not something that I like to remember. It definitely was the first day of a new life, and a new beginning for me. Unfortunately, the life hasn’t been so great lately.
We all handle our diabetes situations differently, believe in different methods of management and believe in different advocacy struggles. The tagline of my blog is, “Living Normally with Diabetes”. So what exactly does that mean?
What it means to me is going to be completely different than what it means to you. What I mean by this is that I have diabetes, but I still live a normal life. I have some additional things that I have to do on a daily, hourly, basis that others may not have to do, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t live a life just like everyone else. I eat whatever foods I want, I can go on whatever rides I want, I can go to places I want, I can do the same “normal” things that you can do, except I have diabetes.
I’ve been talking lately about lifestyle changes, because without a full-blown change of the way that I live, I am not going to be healthy in older ages. I can’t just say that I’m going to lose weight, and then not do it, because that has been going on for way too long. I need to make a change in my lifestyle, as in, not wanting to eat a second portion, or not wanting to go out to dinner every other night, or buy lunch everyday at work. These lifestyle changes are not easy to make, but I am making strides in doing this.
Anybody else that is trying to make lifestyle changes, best of luck to you, because it’s not easy!
Thanks for the post, Chris. Happy dia-versary coming your way. You’re right: totally diff for all of us. I was diganosed so young, I don’t recall much from those days when I was five. But didn’t really starting marking my anniversary until past couple years (don’t even know date, just self-designated it in March). I mark it to celebrate another year of successfully living with, or heck even just surviving another year. But whatever you think, happy one to you!