A Positive Side of Diabetes?
While I know that many of us have negative feelings about our diabetes, there's the complications, side effects of medication, etc., I try my very best to stay positive (in all aspects of life, but especially when it comes to my T1D) even when I am absolutely fed up with the constant monitoring, testing, injecting, etc.. My experience with the disease has been anything but easy, so please do not think I am being glib...
You may think I am nuts, but sometimes I am thankful for it - I like to think that we do not get handed anything in life we cannot handle - because it has taught me a lot. Diabetes has shown me things about myself I may never have discovered, it has shown me a lot about other people, and it has given me an appreciation for life that I think MOST people (Ds and nonDs alike) ignore. My husband sometimes jokes that if I can "go" (I like the fullest plate I can handle - not of food, but of life!) like I go and have diabetes, he fears what I would do absent of diabetes ;)
So I ask, am I alone? Or, is there something positive you can say about the diabetes in your life (whether your own or someone you care about)? Has it taught you something you do not think you would have learned without being diabetic?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by FHS on -
I was not trying to be a grammer Nazi in my previous post, just like I'm not trying to be flippant when I say that a simple "no" does not suffice to express intense hatred for this disease, the same way that a simple "yes" does not suffice to express positivity.
I do understand how dissappointing it must be to hear negativity expressed in your thread but if I have any feelings for my diabetes, they can only be expressed as hatred so maybe it is better to express nothing at all.
Still, I think that if I had posted a thread saying "I Hate my Diabetes", the ensuing posts would have followed a similar trend. We are all diabetics but we will disagree.
Whatever helps us successfully fight this thing is good, even disagreement.
-
Permalink Reply by Bec on -
I'm not trying to be glib or flip - if someone had posted a thread saying "I Hate My Diabetes" I would read it and comment appropriately or do as you suggest, say nothing.
Nonetheless, if we did not all have this outlet I am sure we would be a lot worse for it...or at least a lot more full of "it" - so, yes, even disagreement can bring about something positive! :P
-
Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on -
thesis + apotheosis = synthesis?
-
Permalink Reply by Randy on -
You are right FHS. Terrible life altering, painful things happen to people every day. D is just one of many. In most cases "get over it" and "forget about it" are just not going to happen, ever. The pain and hate can never be completely removed. But some people dwell in those things. When that happens they do become poison and can do great harm to entire families. Choosing not to live that negative life does not eliminate the pain and hate, but it Allows the wounds to heal. I still hate D, but if that were my focus it would have won.
-
Permalink Reply by Jim on -
I was not attacking you. I was simply making a statement about the disease that will probably kill me. It sucks and I see absolutely nothing positive about it. That reflects nothing about how I feel about my life. I am quite happy with my life and I feel I have been quite successful in spite of diabetes. Trust me diabetes had nothing to do with my success. I also do not live in denial of the impacts this disease has on my body and my life. I would have loved to known my dad but this disease killed him at 41 and left me without a dad and my mom without a husband. So I will proudly state that diabetes SUCKS.
-
Permalink Reply by Jacob's mom on -
Bec, I love your attitude, when we cant change things there is no use fighting them, we need to accept and own what ever comes up in our lives in order to be able to live fully this you have done, good for you for being so mature at a young age! amy
-
Permalink Reply by FHS on
-
I certainly don't mean to come in here and dump on your thread, so please don't take any of this the wrong way.
There is a lot of positivity here and I'm truly glad that people have found ways to not only live with this terrible disease, but also make some sense of it, and find ways to see the positive. I do appreciate this community for everything it is and the wonderful people here, and in a real sense, I can feel better about my condition because of the what people post here.
The most positive thing about diabetes, though, is that I have learned to accomodate it on a daily basis to the best of my ability. I can't look at a disease that basically says, "In return for not killing you in a relatively fast, yet painful and horrible way, I will kill you slowly over many years if only you will accomodate my every need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for life. You can hope for better if you dare."
I lead a good life full of satisfaction and contentment, but it is not the life I envisioned for myself before I got diabetes. I do not dwell on what could have been if I didn't have diabetes. I embrace my life as it is. But I also do not credit diabetes for giving me anything that I didn't have the potential to achieve for myself already.
Maybe it's living with it for over 25 years that has given me this perspective. I've come to terms with what I have to do and what it means for me if I don't. I don't need to make anymore sense of it than that.
-
Permalink Reply by Bec on
-
FHS - do you no think that embracing your life as it is is a positive thing??
I appreciate your perspective and thank you for your efforts "not to dump" on the thread ;)
-
Permalink Reply by FHS on
-
Sure, but diabetes didn't teach me how to do that. If anything, I had to learn how to do that despite having diabetes.
Like I said, I accomodate it because there is no other choice if I want to lead a semi-normal life. If there is anything I am able to do that characterizes "normality", I do despite my diabetes. There is something to be said for turning lemons into lemonade but, when it comes to something like diabetes, I never wanted to be a lemonade maker in the first place.
Diabetes is more than just a bump in the road. For me, diabetes put me on a whole different road than the road that I wanted to be on.
I guess the difference in perspectives is that some people look at everything they have to do, or everything they had to learn how to do, on a daily basis to turn lemons into lemonade as making them a better person, or enriching their lives in some way. In fairness, some people can even envision how their lives might have been if they had never gotten diabetes and see something that would have been genuinely worse.
I just don't see it that way.
Advertisement
REsources
Groups
From the Diabetes Hands Foundation blog...
How do you measure the work of volunteers?
329,040 minutes, 329,040 moments so dear. 329,040 minutes — How do you measure, measure volunteers? In smileys, in tears shed, in counsel, in cups of coffee. In units, in carb counts, in laughter, in strife. In 329,040 minutes – how …Continue Reading
DHF Expands Board of Advisors
Diabetes Hands Foundation has always relied on partners and advisors to increase its understanding of the diabetes space, in order to better serve people touched by diabetes. Today this is as true as ever, as we proudly announce the expansion …Continue Reading
TuDiabetes Team
DHF STAFF
 Manny Hernandez(Co-Founder, Editor, has LADA)
|
DHF VOLUNTEERS
Lead Administrator
 Bradford (has type 1) |
Administrators
 Lorraine (mother of type 1) |
 Marie B (has type 1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIKE us on Facebook
Spread the word
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
© 2013 A community of people touched by diabetes, run by the Diabetes Hands Foundation.
