You've been holding something for a long time. Most people who live with Type 1 — or care for someone who does — don't realize how much weight they've been carrying until the moment they're invited to put any of it down. Today is that invitation.
Today's idea
The weight isn't the diabetes. The weight is the vigilance. The math at every meal. The 3 a.m. wake-ups. The endless interpretation of every number. The grief that gets covered up by competence. The exhaustion that gets covered up by gratitude.
You've been doing all of this for as long as you've had Type 1, or as long as you've loved someone who does. And you've done it without anyone really seeing the size of it.
The Pro Tip series captures this:
Type 1 asks for your involvement every day. That involvement is real work. It's mostly invisible to anyone who isn't doing it.
From Pro Tip 1025
Being involved is hard. Today's idea is just to acknowledge the involvement — to give what you've been carrying a name, even quietly, even just to yourself.
What I've been carrying is real. I don't have to pretend otherwise.
Sometime today, name one thing about managing diabetes that has cost you more than people realize. You don't have to say it out loud. You don't have to do anything about it. Just let yourself know that it's there.
Small Sip #1422 — The Difference Is Your Fear
What did I let myself acknowledge today?