National Health Blog Post Month, Day 23: Health Activist Choice. Write about whatever you want!

It’s Thanksgiving week, and Mike over at My Diabetic Heart has brought back Diabetes Blessings Week for the second year in a row. I was missing in action over the week of Thanksgiving last year, so I am excited to participate this year. It’s immensely important for people with diabetes to know that there are a ton of things that come along with diabetes that are totally worth being thankful for.

First there are low blood sugars to be thankful for. Now, I’m not talking about the severe lows where you get all shaky and sweaty and confused. I’m talking about the lows where you are just low enough to merit a snack that you wouldn’t normally eat any other time of the day. Maybe you get to treat a low with some juice, or a box of Nerds, or maybe even a little “Heck yeah, I’m having dessert with lunch today baby!” At least with diabetes, you can tell your friend who is sitting across the table from you watching you plow through your second bowl of homemade banana pudding, “Hey, don’t stare at me. It’s for my diabetes!”

Second, us people with diabetes tend to be more in tune with your body than most people without diabetes are. I think that is really cool. Because of our obsessive compulsive disord…um, attention to detail, we can live just as long as people without diabetes, and often without complications because we are able to catch many problems before they are a big deal. So congratulations to the newly diagnosed, you’re going to live forever! Or at least as long as the national average, which isn’t too bad at all these days.

Speaking of people with diabetes, those folks are worth being thankful for as well. Sure, diabetes is a lifetime commitment, but you get to join the finger pricker armed forces of the world in a battle to save mankind…who happens to have diabetes.

The folks that I’ve met in my world that embrace and encourage me AND my diabetes are those that I cherish the most. I remember days when “normal” was me hiding my diabetes as soon as I left the house. I would so adamantly do whatever I wanted in order to try and be like everybody else, and not let diabetes steal my spotlight. I’m not talking about wild behavior, but just simple things like driving a car, going to work, walking across a busy six-lane street (while low!) to get a snack. I mean, really? What was wrong with me?

I’ll tell you. I was so focused on everybody else in my world that I didn’t take the time to focus on me. I finally had to have a talk with myself. I said, “Self, that’s enough of living alone with diabetes. There are people out there that need you, and good grief, you need them too. If you’re low, say you’re low. If you’re high, say you’re high. And do something about them both. And stop pretending like you can outsmart diabetes when your blood sugar is below 50!”

I’m thankful for so many things in my world, but what I’m thankful for the most is the fact that I’m still here and able to be thankful.

This post was written as part of National Health Blog Post Month (NHBPM) – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

This is also my post for Diabetes Blessings Week 2011: http://www.mydiabeticheart.com/diabetes-blessings-week/