Diabetes And The Unexpected

Diabetes Blog Week Day 1 – Diabetes And The Unexpected

My First Diabetes Blog Week

This is the first time I have taken part in diabetes blog week, an unexpected venture for me. I am really looking forward to it, but first a little intro…..
I am Bri, from London, England, a Type 1 diabetic diagnosed later on in life at the age of 33. You can read all about my diagnosis ➡ Here.

To say that diabetes was an unexpected addition to my life is a huge understatement. My life was ticking along quite nicely, happily married, in secure employment and in good health. All in all I was pretty happy with the hand life had dealt me, then diabetes struck out of the blue.

It’s Not All Doom And Gloom

Even although diabetes came out of the blue in a pretty unexpected fashion, you have to get on with life. There is no solace to be found in wallowing in self pity or playing the blame game (more on that later in the week). With that in mind I want to look at the unexpected positives I have taken from my diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in this blog.

The Unexpected Positives

• Being able to help others is an unexpected positive. Living with diabetes 24/7 you gain the experience needed to offer support and advice to others. It gives a nice feeling when somebody is struggling and your advice helps them overcome their obstacles
• A huge boost in self confidence has been a pleasant side effect of diabetes. Myself and my good friend Ewelina arrange social meet-ups in London for other people with diabetes. Before I was diagnosed I would never have had the self confidence to meet with 30 strangers in a pub in London. This unexpected bond we all share shatters any underlying confidence issues I may have had in the past.
• My unexpected boost in fitness can be directly credited to my diabetes. The benefits of exercise on my blood sugar control is huge, this alone keeps me motivated to be active. If you took diabetes out of the mix I wouldn’t be half as active as I am now.
• My social life has taken a huge turn upwards since being diagnosed. I regularly meetup with other people with diabetes at social events, conferences and seminars. All of that on top of a few research opportunities mean I have a pretty full social life.
• To me though the biggest unexpected positive I can take from my diabetes is finding the #DOC. Before I became pancreatically challenged I never really used Twitter and a # was just a symbol I used to type swear words!. Now I spend a lot of my time on Twitter, sharing experiences, asking questions and forging friendships with other great people. We all have one underlying common denominator and that is… our old friend Diabetes

As with anything in life you can look at diabetes in 2 ways. You take my approach and go for the positives, making the most of everyday. Or you take the other approach.

The other way is not so good. A negative approach to diabetes makes a difficult condition so much harder. This is the hand I have been dealt, and I am determined to make the most of it.

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Take care, Bloggers week is here

Type1Bri