I promised myself I’d be up front about this, even though I like to deny it (to myself). But, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of this project? That’d be a shame, since it’s barely even started.
I am five feet-one inch tall (or short, would probably be more accurate. I’m okay with that. I like being little). I weigh somewhere between (too many) and (too too many) pounds. I’m a former two sport Varsity athlete. I’ve always ate somewhere in the middle, I think. Not the healthiest, but not the worst.
And I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes at Age 22.
It came as a big surprise. And, now I’m approaching my 2 year anniversary living with Diabetes.
I’ve gone through a huge range of emotions since my diagnosis. I’ll go through phases of ignoring it, thinking I’m dying and imagining symptoms (dramatic much?), blaming myself, feeling angry, feeling desperate, feeling defeated, feeling like I wish I didn’t know. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always on my mind. I’m not an unhappy person. It’s something that happened to me.
And, it’s something I’m still learning to live with and understand. I don’t know “why” it happened, as so many people like to ask. But it’s okay. I do feel shame and guilt more often then the other emotions, recently. I see shows on tv that are threatening severely overweight people that if they don’t lose weight they will get Diabetes, all the complications that come with it, and essentially their lives will be over. I wasn’t ever that over weight. I wasn’t ever that out of shape. So why did it happen to me? I don’t know. My body doesn’t process sugars correctly, I suppose. I might never be able to answer that why question.
But I do hope I’ll eventually come to terms with it. And, perhaps most importantly, I do know I can go on living a happy, long, healthy life with Diabetes. It is not a death sentence for me, but an opportunity to open my eyes and live a better life. Maybe, it’s an opportunity to use my experience to share this message with other people. Just maybe.
Maybe, it’s so I can share this with you.
Sweet Accountability 
That sucks. Both Type 1 (a young cousin) and Type 2 (my grandparents) Diabetes run in my family and I frequently think about how un-fun it would be to have to deal with that stuff in my 20’s (well, ever, but especially now). I work in a really fancypants bar and one of my weird specialties is developing cocktails that people watching their sugar can enjoy in a quasi-responsible manner.
That’s awesome that you’ve developed some low-sugar cocktails. That’s one of the trickier things, I think, to order when out.
I hope that you continue to live healthy and Diabetes-free. It’s definitely a pain. But, it’s not the end of the world which I think a lot of people seem to act like it might be. (I admit I do sometimes too!) I’m always thinking I could have been diagnosed with something so much worse; so, all things considered I think I’m pretty lucky!
Thanks for reading!
Wow… you have a lot of courage to be posting about your diabetes and your feelings about it! Good for you. 🙂 A few of my good friends have diabetes as well and they’ve been thru many hardships adjusting. Have you ever read the book ‘Lights Out’ by TS Wiley… probably one of my favourites in relation to diabetes. Let me know what you think if you check it out! 🙂
Oh– I’ll definitely put that on my list. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
It’s definitely an adjustment and it’s not something I really like talking about but I’m trying to be more open about it. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for the follow! My wordpress email recommended this post of yours so of course I went right to it. I really appreciate you being able to share this stuff. It makes me feel better to know that there are other people going through the same thing as me. I was diagnosed with type 2 at 18 (6 years ago) and its only been recently that I’ve really come to terms with it. But I was in denial for so long. It’s still hard for me to be open. I don’t care what the doctors say, its definitely not the end of the world! Though they make it seem like it is. Keep in touch 🙂
Thank you for checking out my blog as well! When I found your blog, I immediately felt like we had quite a bit in common. Now I know we really do! I totally hear you about having trouble coming to terms with the diagnosis at such a young age. It is hard to be open, but I’m finding that it’s helping me make myself and my health a priority, you know? I definitely look forward to staying in touch!
Thanks for sharing, Krista. I have been living with type 1 diabetes since January and want to learn more about type 2 diabetes, so I’m glad you’ve chosen to share some aspects of your life with diabetes. I’m tired of the attitude that type 1 is “guiltless diabetes” and type 2 is “guilty diabetes” or that one type is “worse” than another. I wonder if more people choose to be open about their diabetes if general conceptions would change.
I totally hear you about the perceptions of the different types of diabetes. I am hopeful that by opening up and sharing my story I can play even a small part in breaking down some of those barriers. (As I’m sure you know, it’s not easy to share such an intimate part of yourself!) I look forward to following your journey as well!