So, technically, my pancreas SHOULD be making insulin...right? That's what its original job was in my body: make insulin! But while it SHOULD be making insulin, the reality IS that my pancreas simply doesn't anymore.

The same thing could be said for my drive to work in the morning: it SHOULD take me no more than ten minutes to get to work from my apartment...but if I run into traffic around 8 a.m. or 5 p.m., it ends up taking me fifteen or twenty minutes. There is nothing I can do about it. If there IS traffic during my drive to work, I have to accept that and sit patiently in my car for twice as long as it SHOULD have taken me to get there.

And sure, I could spend that extra ten minutes in my car getting annoyed and frustrated because I might be late to work, but what does that really do for me besides ruin my morning because I allowed myself to get angry over something I have no control over?

We can't help that we have Type 1 diabetes. Whatever caused our immune systems to attack our pancreases and destroy their ability to produce insulin happened already. It's done. It shouldn't have happened...but it did. And that leaves me with two options:

1. I can just focus on the fact that my pancreas SHOULD be making insulin the way my friends' pancreases make insulin. I can get angry and frustrated and annoyed. I can try to pretend that this isn't my reality because it'd be a lot easier if I did make my own insulin. I can feel sorry for myself because my silly pancreas SHOULD be making some gosh darn freakin' insulin!!!

OR...

2. I can accept that what IS true about my pancreas and my life is that I don't make my insulin and I do have diabetes. That's reality. Not a whole lot I can do to change that right now. What I can change is how I handle it from here on out. It's not going to go away any time soon (a cure is on its way for sure, but we can't hold our breath for that!). Diabetes IS a part of my life. Period. The more I can acknowledge this and take care of my body knowing that it simply IS a body with diabetes, instead of a body that SHOULD be making insulin, the more positively and honestly I can go about everything else in my life.

Either way, it's all hard. Some days are more frustrating than others, but this is a disease that is going to stick around and it is a inevitably a HUGE part of our lives. If we deny that we have diabetes it'll become a HUGE and NEGATIVE part of our lives because we'll constantly feel awful high blood sugars, hurt our bodies in permanent ways and not be able to do everything else we love doing!

If we accept that DIABETES is a HUGE PART OF MY LIFE and learn to take care of it well and be patient on the days when it's really really hard, diabetes won't have to be negative. Instead, we'll feel healthy and happy and continually proud of ourselves for being able to handle something so major.