Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Why write about diabetes?

HAWMC_2012_dayprompt-4I write about my health because… Reflect on why you write about your health for 15-20 minutes without stopping.

I’m feeling quite under the weather today (thank you Pete, for sharing the bad cold you caught while I was away last week).  And this topic is not an easy one for me to try to explain.  Basically, I write about diabetes because I feel driven to - and here is a rambly 15 minutes to try to explain why . . .

Back when I first found the DOC, I was a knit-blogger.  The second I found people out there living with diabetes, just like me, and BLOGGING about it too, I knew I wanted to be a part of it all.  I wanted to leave comments and connect, but I thought linking my knitting blog in the comments would be weird.  So to avoid having people think “Who is this crazy knitting girl who leaves comments on diabetes blogs?”, I decided to start Bitter-Sweet.  Of course, now that I know the DOC, I know people would have been happy to connect, no matter what my blog was - or even if I had no blog at all.  But in the long run, I'm grateful for the motivation to start blogging about diabetes.

Once I started sharing my diabetes life, I found I had a lot to say.  I started to meet other diabetes bloggers in person, and I started to build some very important friendships.


DPals2

I started out looking to connect with people who understood how living with diabetes felt.  I never imagined the connections would turn into such strong friendships - the kind where you can spend well over two hours on the phone with someone and still have a ton left to say.  This is still the main reason I blog, this is the root of my passion.   However, writing about diabetes has evolved to more than that for me.  I want to help, I want to advocate for the changes we need, I want to make a difference.  I am just one little voice, but I’ve seen our community band our “little voices” together to send loud, clear messages.  It’s exciting to advocate for something I believe deeply in, and it is a path I never imagined my blog would lead me to.

5 comments:

  1. Yay! I'm in the collage!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remembered last time I posted it we talked about how out-dated it was. So I added a few pictures - and I made certain you were included!! :)

      Delete
  2. You are right about the connections with PWDs. It is impossible to explain to someone that isn't a PWD. As far as Pete sharing his cold, you should be glad he isn't selfish! I hope you feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I could not agree more!!! I started my blog just last month and it has truly been life changing. I only started it to just let out my feelings, etc. Not really expecting or knowing if anyone would actually READ it. It's started to take on a life of its own and I am learning more about myself now than I have in the last 19 years of being a PWD.
    Love the pictures -- hope to be able to meet more from the DOC soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. that collage brings a smile to my face! :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment!