#TBT #dblogweek Day 4: The Diabetes Stuff That Brings Me Down

It's day four of Diabetes blog week.

Today's topic is a #TBT from the 2014 Diabetes Blog Week. It's all about emotions and diabetes - the diabetes stuff that brings us down - and what brings us back up.  

May is Mental Health Month - diabetes impacts our physical and mental well being. Depression and diabetes go hand in hand - talking about it is key -as is know that we aren't the only ones who struggle. 

Seeking help and support from friends and professionals can only help. 

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There's so much about diabetes that brings me down.

The fact that diabetes is 24 X&, 365 days a year with no time off for vacations or good behavior and causes me to experience diabetes burnout more often than I’d liked

The stress that diabetes puts on me (both physically and mentally,) has the ability to make me feel like Atlas - and sometimes I fear that the weight will cause me to topple. 

Add the stress that diabetes has put on my family, and my friends with and without diabetes, and it is easy to become the girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders

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The fact that the public, for the most part - never gets diabetes right, and the same can be said for diabetes and the media. 

Diabetes Media Muck-ups put all of us on the defense and has us perpetually correcting the population. 

Don't even get me started on blood sugar craziness!

Then, there’s the people I’ve loved and lost to diabetes - I miss them them terribly and when I think about diabetes cutting their lives short it makes cry and makes me relive the grief of losing them.

Losing friends to diabetes is fucking hard.

Losing my sister Debbie to diabetes was fucking excruciating. 

Seeing my parents hearts break because they lost their child to diabetes was devastating. 

It changed our lives and our family dynamic forever - and to this day, we are are still dealing with the ramifications of Debbie's death.  

Personally, there are moments when I wonder the type of person I would have been and the life I would have led had diabetes not taken Debbie from us. 

And on those days, when diabetes brings me down into the darkness - light peaks through the darkest of clouds, and I am reminded of the gifts that diabetes has brought me.  

Those gifts are you. 

Our community, the Diabetes Online Community, has given me so much support, friendship and love. 

My diabetes friendships that span the globe, enrich my world, and have given me a strong sense of self and determination. 

Diabetes has given me a voice and requires me to speak up for myself and for the people I love. 

Diabetes (and my mom,) taught me to pull myself up by bootstraps and pull myself out of the muck. 

Sometimes on my own, other times I can’t do it alone. 

And in those times when I am struggling to stand up in, and get of the muck the most,  the Diabetes Online Community lifts me up, dusts me off, and acts as my compass and travel companions on the road to better. 

And I am grateful for the gifts. 

****FTR, I know I missed day 3 of Diabetes Blog Week. 

I will make it up and post, but I didn't want to get behind on day 4, too!