Me Too!

"We read to know we are not alone."

C.S. Lewis said that.

I first heard it in the movie Shadowlands and I remember thinking that it was a very powerful line.

I think we do a lot of things to know we are not alone.

We check Facebook more than we really need to.

We blog. We read blogs. We take pictures. We share silly videos. We buy the latest pair of boots that everyone else suddenly seem to be wearing. We read Fifty Shades of Grey (whether we liked it or not) so that we too could be part of the conversation.

Last night I met up with a few people in Cambridge. I didn't know any of them and I felt bad because they had to put up with my coughing all through dinner. They are all involved, either as speakers or as organizers, in an event this coming November for women with Type 1 diabetes.

I have been asked to speak at this event. Last night we got together to talk about what the day would look like and what each of us would speak about.

Before I went, I asked Doug what he thought I should offer to talk about during my presentation. He had some pretty powerful suggestions.

Talk about how exercise and diabetes is really hard but that it's worth the effort. The dangers of a low during a run far outweigh the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. Talk about how living with diabetes is scary and how to use that fear to give you courage to do other things. To try other things. To say yes to things that scare you.

Talk about how people with diabetes just want to feel less alone. How they want to feel like everyone else. Talk about how people are often worried about using devices like insulin pumps even though those devices can make it easier to care for your health. Talk about how they are worried because they think they will be 'less sexy' if they wear a pump. Talk about how they worry about telling a new partner about their diabetes when they are starting a new relationship. Talk about the diabetes online community and how it helps to make you feel less alone.

The diabetes online community is like a big huge chorus of strangers singing 'me too!'. A chorus of people whose daily adventures and frustrations can instantly make me feel like I am not alone.

I read blogs to know I am not alone.

I speak to others about diabetes to know I am not alone and to show others they are not alone.

I wear my pump on my belt to show others they are not alone.

I want to add my voice to the big huge choir of people singing 'me too'.