#dBlogWeek: Message Monday~

Day one of #DBlogWeek and it’s all about the message. And to quote Karen, the creator of #dblogweek, directly: " Message Monday: What is the most important diabetes awareness message to you? Why is that message important for you, and what are you trying to accomplish by sharing it on your blog? (Thank you, Heather Gabel, for this topic suggestion.” 

Living with diabetes isn’t about one thing - it’s about many things. 
The same can be said as to why I blog about diabetes and the messages that are important to me. I can’t pick one message or platform because there are so damn many - all important, each taking their place in front of the line on a rotating scheduled decided by life.
Diabetes and the media: I started blogging in 2007 because I was ticked at Halle Barre and her publicist’s inaccurate diabetes statements that were made in the media. 
I was sick of the diabetes inaccuracies and I needed both the public and the media to get diabetes right. I always considered myself a diabetes mythbuster and I started blog as a way to bust myths and stereotypes wide open and encouraged others to do the same. 
I want people to use the proper words when it comes to diabetes because words matter and words stick - accurate or not.
Humor: I’ve always used humor as a coping mechanism when it came to dealing with life - and life with diabetes, because I felt (and still do,) that if you can laugh about your diabetes, you can own your diabetes. 
I want others to laugh and become empowered because I know what it was like to lose someone I loved to diabetes because they felt like diabetes had all the power. 
Holy Crap, the DOC is AMAZING: About 2 months after I started blogging I realized that there was this amazing community called the DOC, and while I always knew I wasn’t the only one living with diabetes  - I never realized until I found my tribe that I’d been wearing an anchor of diabetes guilt around my neck for a long time - it was heavy and I was tired. 
And I never realized that diabetes burnout was a thing and that there was a loneliness to living with diabetes - until I  found others in the DOC and I no longer felt alone. 
It was because of the DOC that learned to flip my diabetes bitch switch for good, not evil. 

Becoming a Diabetes Advocate because it’s ain’t about me: Finding DOC has turned me into a passionate Diabetes Advocate because it made me realize that it wasn’t about me - it's about us - every single person in the world living with diabetes. 

We are in this together, no matter the diabetes type or which part of the world we live. 
#DiabetesAccessMatters for everyone - as does stripping safely and sparearose.org, and DSMA and that the Blue Circle is global and all encompassing. 
Through blogging I have found friends for life, who've taught and continue to teach me, every single day... and who have been there for me when I lost the one I loved the most. 

#IwishPeopleKnewThatDiabetes: Because of blogging, I’ve learned to not only cultivate my diabetes voice, I've become inspired by other diabetes voices  - and hopefully helping I'm paying it forward and helping others to discover and use their own d voices.

Finally, the big ass message is: WE MATTER. Every single person living with diabetes matters  - every single voice matters - and when added to the chorus of voices - mountains move and we are Khaleesi type of powerful. 
And yep, you know after last night’s Game of Thrones, I had to get a Daenerys Targaryan, aka Khaleesi reference in!
FLAME ON!