Living Well With Diabetes on World Diabetes Day

The most important thing I know about diabetes is that living well with this disease has nothing to do with doing it all perfectly.

People seem to assume I must have perfect blood sugars all the time because I'm 23 years old, or because I'm a personal trainer and yoga teacher therefore I spend a lot of time exercising. They might assume I always eat perfectly and always know exactly how much insulin to take. They probably assume I don't even like chocolate and ice cream, because, as we all know, someone with diabetes shouldn't be eating chocolate and ice cream…but hey, even if you don't have diabetes you "shouldn't be eating" chocolate and ice cream. (For the record, I love both, and I always will…in moderation maybe once a week.)

But like I was saying, living well with diabetes isn't about perfection.

Living well with diabetes means that I don't waste time feeling sorry for myself because diabetes is holding me back from enjoying this or that. Living well with diabetes, to me, means that I am facing the challenges of the disease and pursuing the things in life I want to do. Successfully. All the way.

Diabetes has never held me back.

I can do anything I set my mind to. Maybe diabetes makes it more challenging, but that doesn't matter, I can still do it. Who said anything was supposed to easy for anybody anyway? (Easy would be so boring anyway, right?)

Living well with diabetes, to me, means I know this disease is part of my life, and the absolute best choice I have is to learn about it, take care of it as well as I can every single day, and keep my chin up on the days when it's really trying to challenge me.

Diabetes doesn't make me unlucky or weak. Diabetes doesn't make my life harder than anyone else's. It's just my challenge. Diabetes or no diabetes, we all have challenges. Mine is diabetes.

Living well with diabetes, to me, means I wake up in the morning and I know I'm just as able to accomplish anything in my life as anyone else. And really, diabetes or no diabetes, I'm just thankful I'm here at all! Life is too fun to let something like diabetes get in the way!

We're Just As "Sweet"...  Without the Sugar!

Happy World Diabetes Day to YOU!

Sincerely,

Ginger