As many of you know, I work with adults who have a developmental disability.
I love my job.
Many people I serve don't talk a whole lot. Or they say things in a way that doesn't quite make sense...to me at least. But most of the time, if you listen closely enough, they are bang on in the way they can summarize life.
Last night, we had a baby shower for one of our employees. The room was packed with staff and people using services. One guy came up to me and pointed to my pump.
"Whazzat?" he said.
"It's my insulin pump. I have diabetes" I replied.
"Why?" he asked.
"I have no idea" I answered.
"That sucks" he said and walked away.
Pretty much summarizes it doesn't it?
Type 1 diabetes - we can guess why we have it but no one really knows. Was it the result of my horrible car accident? Was it genetic? Did I do something to get it? There is no way to know but, whatever the reason, it totally sucks.
But it sucks in a way that's not really worth stressing about. It's not like how losing your wallet totally sucks. Or getting stuck in an elevator totally sucks. This totally sucks for the long haul so we just get used to the fact that it totally sucks and then carry on.
I'll let you all in on a little secret. Do you remember how last week I mentioned that I was chosen as one of this year's Global Heroes? Well, I received an email on Monday with a list of questions they wanted me to answer about my running, my diabetes, my insulin pump and what inspires me. One of the questions asked was: what I would say to someone whose life has been affected by a condition similar to mine?
I thought for a few minutes and came up with this: Use diabetes as a motivator not an excuse and you'll be amazed where it can take you.
So yeah, it totally sucks.
What are YOU going to do about it?
awesome. that's what I tell people too - it's just a big pain in the @ss more than anything... if you treat it as if you're going to go blind, lose appendages or die from it, then your life will be miserable since it will consume you. the best thing you can do is treat is as an inconvenience, just some extra work you need to do daily, just a pain in the @ss... and then something beautiful happens, you begin to live your life more passionately because of it. you start to realize that you have a deep understanding of exercise and nutrition and its affect on blood sugar - something most people have no idea about... there are silver linings in there somewhere :)
ReplyDeleteYou should have told that fella it was an Ipod, or a pager, or a cell phone! It being what he "thought" it might be would have been easier and less negative.
ReplyDeleteI wish educating people that don't understand D was easy, but they always seem to get a confused zombie look in the end. For as-long-as D has been around, you'd think we'd be more main stream. But seriously, less than 1% have t1 and fewer than that understand it.
Stick with PWD- at least we have a clue! We want to be motiviated by positive things, not stuff that sucks.
I hear what you're saying but I'm not sure I agree. I would never lie about what my pump is and I'm always ready and willing to educate people about it.
ReplyDeleteThis particular guy is one few words and I wasn't a bit offended by what he said. In fact, I think he captured diabetes perfectly - we never really know why we have it and it sucks. Period. Move on :)
Hi Celine!
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of his statement lies in the simplicity of it, right? It totally made me grin when I read it.
And, for the record, I'm so excited that I'll get to meet you soon! Heather and I are totally excited to support you awesome athletes through a fun weekend!