The Power of Words In The DOC

It’s the smallest things that mean the most to me.

Like the surprise e-mails that arrive in my inbox from time to time. I need only tap the title card and I’ll almost certainly be guaranteed warm words. The greeting, so friendly and so personal, it could be from someone I saw only yesterday. The narrative, so open and inviting, as though the person writing it could be someone who knows me in real life. The kindness, so real and so genuine, that I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve it.

This week, I was absolutely touched by a relatively new friend in the diabetes online community. I had the widest grin on my face when I read that they were so inspired by my “non-championed, non elite” account of life with diabetes.

Was I touched to receive a compliment? You bet. I’d be lying if I said otherwise.

However, it was the power of those words themselves that were even more touching.

I am not a celebrity. I am not an athlete. I am not one of the cool kids. I am not the biggest Facebooker, Tweeter or Photographer. I am not a genius. I am not rich. I am certainly not the kind of person who can sugar coat everything and tell you what you want to hear. And I certainly don’t have diabetes all figured out, either…

However, I can write. I love to write. It takes time. It’s creative. It’s thoughtful. It’s very meaningful. I find it extremely empowering, and even a little therapeutic at times. I channel a lot of my creative energy into my writing week in, week out. Writing is my passion. It’s something I would happily do for the rest of my life.

I think it’s simply amazing how something as ordinary as words can be so powerful. It’s amazing how these words can form a connection. A bond to someone on the other side of the world, who I don’t even know. It’s amazing how words can usher in this sense of community. A space for support and security, that I rely on each and every day. It’s amazing how something as consuming as diabetes can be overpowered by reading simple words that I can relate to. Words that urge me to respond with “I get it.”

I am simply an ordinary person, who also happens to have diabetes. It was one of the very reasons I began to blog just over a year ago. It was one of the reasons I was so touched by that compliment.

Words are powerful. Words are the reason I write. Words are the reason I will continue to exist in this diabetes community each and every day.

Until we find a cure, know that your words mean as much to me as mine hopefully mean to you.

Happy Friday!