Blogging

Remembering My ‘Why.’

3 Comments

I often marvel at just how much I’ve gained from being a part of the diabetes community.

From talking to people connected to diabetes, to being my own advocate in my diabetes care, raising my voice, asking questions, attending local diabetes events and volunteering my own time toward causes that I am passionate about.

While it’s true that diabetes, and more specifically diabetes blogging, has given me a lot of amazing opportunities, it truly is the community around the diabetes that has given me the most.

Four years ago, I knew next to nothing about diabetes. I was injecting insulin and checking my blood sugar, feeling very conscious of the people around me. I had no confidence in what I was doing. I was riding the rollercoaster, ever so helplessly.

Unfortunately the public system here in Australia, while fantastic, is geared toward clearing those clinic corridors and pushing the person with diabetes toward self-management as soon as possible. More so when you’re someone who is coping relatively better than other patients, even if it doesn’t necessarily feel that way to you.

For me, the lightbulb switched on when I first joined Twitter in 2015.

I had no clue that there was such a valuable resource in other people with diabetes available at the touch of my fingertips. I had no clue that talking to other people with diabetes was a thing, whether that be on Twitter, closed Facebook groups, Instagram, blogs, forums or something else. Those online connections eventually led to in person ones.

The diabetes community would have to be the single biggest thing that has helped me to live well with diabetes, both physically and mentally.

A great deal of what I have learned about diabetes has come from hearing the experiences of others. It certainly goes a long way in complementing the 99.9% of time that I spend outside the company of a healthcare professional.

It makes such a huge difference to know that there are others going through what I’m going through. I daresay that it even inspires, and motivates me to keep going in the daily grind that doesn’t end at 4pm on a Friday or the week before Christmas.

At the same time, I’ve also been authoring this little blog that you’re reading. Here’s the thing. I’ve always admired blogs. Long before diabetes came into my life, and also long before they were somewhat replaced by social media.

I blog for one reason, and one reason alone.

Myself.

I can’t speak for, or represent anyone other than myself through my words here.

However I do hope that through this little corner of the internet, I’ve been able to get some of that information out that I so desperately needed to find four years ago.

As I round out blog post number 500 here at Type 1 Writes, I can confidently say that this is my ‘why.’

Marvelling at the beauty of this building in Leichhardt, NSW, in the same way I marvel at how much diabetes has given me.

Review: Yoga For Diabetes By Rachel Zinman

1 Comment

I recently had the pleasure of reconnecting with fellow diabetes blogger, yoga instructor, friend, and now author Rachel Zinman in Sydney this May.

Rachel and I first connected back in 2015 during our first Diabetes Blog Week, and I’ve since ended up with a super fan that I can’t seem to get rid of! Despite the two of us having completely different backgrounds, Rachel is one of those people who is so easy to get along with. She is so warm, enthusiastic and really takes everything in around her.

Rachel has been a massive source of support, encouragement and inspiration in my blogging and advocacy efforts. She comes across exactly as I imagined her online, which I think is a true testament to her character.

I’ve been so inspired watching Rachel’s efforts in getting her book, Yoga for Diabetes: How to Manage Your Health With Yoga and Ayurveda, off the ground. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Rachel eventually got the attention of a publisher and has since been putting her energy into a book tour across the US over the Summer.

Since returning to Australia earlier this year, Rachel has been touring the East Coast teaching Yoga and launching Yoga for Diabetes. After asking where the best place was for me to buy the book, Rachel produced one for me from the back seat of her car.

Rachel opens the book with her own story, talking about the long hours spent in New York learning about and teaching Yoga under a mentor. After experiencing the horror of 9/11, Rachel moved back home to Byron Bay, Australia with her young family. As a health conscious person, Rachel was in disbelief upon learning that a routine blood test showed a slightly elevated hba1c at the age of 42. With a slower onset of type 1 diabetes (LADA), Rachel spent many years trying to cure herself with natural remedies before finally accepting her diagnosis and taking insulin.

The book has definitely been written in the spirit of inspiring beginners like myself that Yoga could be for me. Rachel delves into the concept of Ayurveda, which is an ancient ‘science of life.’ She talks us through the three doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha – which are elements that combine in our bodies in varying amounts.

Exploring the characteristics of each of these three doshas was pivotal in connecting me to the concept of Yoga. I could really relate to qualities of a Vata Dosha such as being enthusiastic, full of ideas, unnecessarily overwhelmed and thin (I already hear that more than enough!). To a lesser degree, I could also relate to Pitta qualities such as being very focussed and hardworking, while also feeling occasional frustration and burnout.

Knowing what dosha, or combination of dosha you are, is pivotal in identifying the kind of Yoga practice best suited to you. There’s a questionnaire later in the book that will give you an answer, followed by many beautifully illustrated sequences customised to your Dosha.

The book moves onto the mind, as Rachel explains that Yoga can help us to become more aware of our thoughts and get us out of our habitual need to identify with them. Especially when it comes to the thoughts about our condition, Yoga can help us to feel content, relaxed and not thinking about diabetes for a moment.

The breathing and meditation exercises illustrated in the following two chapters gave me a good idea of what Rachel was talking about in regard to the mind. Getting on the ground and practicing some of the breathing exercises left me feeling really relaxed, focussing purely on things like feeling breath moving from my chest to my belly.

So what can Yoga offer those of us living with diabetes? In Rachel’s own words:

“A simple break from the intensity of all that the body throws at us.”

“Practices, lifestyle changes and systems of thought that enable me to face this condition each and every day with a positive outlook.”

“A great friend and companion that will hold your hand through all of the ups and downs that you are bound to experience.”

Over the course of this year, self care has become a pretty big priority for me to avoid burning out (more on that soon). Knowing absolutely nothing about Yoga, I guess I was most intrigued as to whether this book might help me to find a bit more mindfulness in my life. While I don’t think I’ll become a devoted yogi like Rachel, I have found another awesome self care tool to help put my mind at ease, particularly during these short Winter days when I don’t get outdoors as often as I’d like.

Yoga for Diabetes: How to Manage Your Health With Yoga and Ayurveda is now available on Amazon.

You can also follow Rachel’s book touring adventures on Facebook, Instagram and her blog.

Diabetes Blogging 101.

10 Comments

When I started writing here three and a half years ago, it was honestly more of a creative outlet to flex my Marketing and PR muscles. Diabetes sounded like something that I should write about, but I never, ever imagined that actual people with diabetes would be reading my blog.

Today, I think it’s fair to say that my blog has become a lot more than just a blog. I may or may not be classified as a diabetes social media junkie, an oversharer, a freelance writer, speaker, committee member, social networker, an advocate, a diabetes PR service or even a sellout to big pharma!

The diabetes community, both online and offline, has been invaluable to me. I am in a place with my own diabetes that I never imagined possible. I honestly owe it to every single individual that I’ve ever connected with, and every single piece of information I’ve ever been given. I wouldn’t trade being a part of the diabetes community for anything in the world (except maybe, a working pancreas…)

But at the same time, I get the impression that blogs are sometimes seen as merely something ‘nice’ to do. Or that a blogger is often pictured sitting in the comfort of their own home on a Monday morning, typing out a fresh post and then going about their leisurely day.

Blogging is a fairly big investment in the subject area you’re writing about and the cause you’re advocating for. Keeping on top of all of the news, developments, tools and technologies forms a pretty big part of my life. And hey, it also keeps me pretty motivated in wanting to better manage my own diabetes. I do not have a technical or scientific background. Yet as I hear myself talking enthusiastically to others, I realise just how much I have immersed myself into a very technical and scientific world.

There’s a pretty big investment of my own time. Whether it be writing my blog, taking part in advocacy work, responding to e-mails, networking or embarking on diabetes travel, it’s all done in my own time. Evenings. Weekends. Sometimes out of my hard earned annual leave. Often at relatively short notice for the responsibilities and full time job I’m leaving behind that pays for the pancreas that doesn’t work properly.

There’s also a pretty big responsibility in advocacy. When companies choose to speak to people with diabetes, I believe that’s a good thing. While some might see it as accepting tokens from ‘big pharma,’ I see it as a responsibility to tell them what’s important to people with diabetes. While trying to be mindful of my privilege.

I’d also be lying if I said that I didn’t feel a sense of obligation to the community that has given me so much. I know full well that I am a highly privileged person, and that I don’t represent all people with diabetes out there in the world. A mere four years ago, I was in a relatively isolated place with diabetes. I guess a big part of my ‘why’ is to help other people to discover the power of peer support and being engaged in the diabetes world.

For me, the biggest reward that has come from diabetes blogging is all of the amazing people I have met. My tribe of people who have diabetes feel like somewhat of a close knit family. I often arrive home after some amazing conversations with a cup that is overflowing and a newfound motivation.

Diabetes has made my world a lot smaller, and being part of this community always makes me feel that I am a part of something much, much bigger.

One of the occasional perks of diabetes travel…

Outside the Bubble.

1 Comment

“Diabetes! Diabetes! This way!”

The lady behind the counter was shouting and gesturing wildly as I entered the rec centre for an evening on exercise and nutrition put together by my fellow Young Adult Diabetes Committee members.

The YADC came to life a year ago and has since grown into a vibrant community of young adults living with diabetes, who are predominantly type 1s. As I found myself explaining to someone in attendance that night, this group really came about to fulfil a need that was currently missing in the Perth community.

As I took a seat and the evening’s proceedings kicked off, I found myself mentally nodding as I heard concepts being explained by our guest speakers that I was all too familiar with.

I looked around the room, glancing at some of the other people with diabetes and their loved ones in attendance. I observed many of them listening attentively, taking in all of the information they were hearing or jotting it down in note form. My own two parents were sitting behind me, and I wondered how easy this information was for them to take in.

They know the concepts behind managing type 1 diabetes quite well. At home, I find myself talking a lot about some of the exciting developments I read about in the DOC, my advocacy activities and diabetes related travel.

However, I’ve always been very independent in the physical management of my condition. I don’t bother them with all the nitty gritty stuff, like trying to figure out the best time to bolus for a high fat high protein pub dinner when my blood sugar is x mmol.

The evening broke off into group sessions, where I found myself chatting with some of my fellow type 1s in the room. It was nice (but also saddening) to hear other experiences in public hospital diabetes care that mirrored mine, while there were also some inquisitive questions asked of the pumpers and CGM users.

I departed this event with a far greater insight from all of the different perspectives I had heard and observed in the room during the course of the evening, and all of the different motivations for attending.

During our committtee meetings, good ideas simply seem to pop among this very bright group of YADC members. I spend my spare time trawling social media, squealing with excitement over the latest device or venting my frustration over the latest coverage of diabetes in the media. I get to catch up with people in the industry and other diabetes bloggers when I’ve received opportunities to travel, who are people just like me.

This event, however, had finally brought me outside of the diabetes bubble that I so often find myself sitting in. I just need to figure out how I can spend some more time here.

Why Blog?

1 Comment

IMG_0987

My conversation with Rebecca Johnson at the Telethon Type 1 Diabetes Family Centre prompted some serious questions about my blog. Some of which I’ve never really thought about too seriously, and others that I’ve shared little tidbits about over time. Today, I’m popping it all into one post.

Why did I start to blog?

I love writing. My dream is to write for a living someday. I started this blog in January 2015 as a bit of a creative outlet to complement my studies in marketing and communications. I guess, even today, this blog remains a glimmer of hope that one day I might find work more closely aligned to where my passions lie. 

Diabetes seemed like a natural choice to write about. I didn’t even think there were many diabetes blogs out there, let alone an active community sharing their stories online. I know so much more about diabetes than I ever did before I started my blog. I am far more empowered and passionate about the condition that I live with, and I credit that to being a part of the diabetes community.

Is it hard to come up with ideas for blog posts?

It was definitely difficult to come up with ideas in the beginning, and get them onto paper cohesively. Today, the ideas come to me quite naturally. I’m really interested in what’s going on in the diabetes community. Diabetes follows me around in whatever I do, and something interesting always happens along the way. It’s amazing how the tiniest thing can become a blog post. Like, for example, finding a test strip on the hotel room floor. Other days I just want to empty out what’s on my mind, such as this post from last week. You get better at it over time.

Do I feel the pressure to constantly pump out content?

To be honest, I’ve surprised myself in being able to write so much here since I started. It’s more a thing of personal pride that motivates me to keep going. I’m really proud of my writing. I’m proud of my own personal development with my diabetes since I began this journey. I’m really proud of this space that I’ve created, and that people can come here to find a new post almost every day of the week. That was always the vision I had for my blog when I started it. 

How has Type 1 Writes evolved over time?

When I started Type 1 Writes, I imagined it would be more of a thing where I would give diabetes advice and lifestyle tips. I don’t think I realised the value of my own voice and my own story until a little later when I began to connect with others in the Diabetes Online Community.

A lot of my initial blog audience and DOC connections were from the United States, and I felt like I had to fit in with that. I don’t think I realised the value of my perspective as an Australian person with diabetes. I guess today, I’m proud to be an Australian diabetes blogger. I proudly publish my posts during the daytime here in Australia, even if that means that my friends in the US and UK are sitting down to dinner or heading to bed. I’m proud to be a part of the Oz Diabetes Online Community, even if it’s not as huge as DSMA or DCDE groups in the US.

What does the future hold for Type 1 Writes?

Hmmm…I hope I’ll be able to keep doing more of the same. Publishing great content, sharing my story with diabetes, being part of an inspiring community and hopefully reaching more people. I’d love to meet more DOC connections in real life, and attend diabetes conferences. If I could find a job or side income more closely aligned with my blog or my writing someday, that would be amazing too. 

One thing that won’t change, however, is that I will always continue to write what comes from the heart.