The Right Kind of Sacrifice

I am finally taking a long, deep sigh after one hell of a work month. A multitude of factors, including an attempt to put together a fundraising event for a local dog rescue (eventually successful, but not without cost to my sanity), all led to the last few weeks being some of the most stressful of my life. I had to make a lot of sacrifices in my daily routine just to keep from going insane (this blog, unfortunately, being one of them).

And all this sacrificing has started me thinking (now that the madness is over and my brain is again capable of doing so). Few people know daily sacrifice the way a T1D does. I don't know any healthy diabetic that hasn't had to change their lifestyles (turn it upside down really) in order to stay healthy. You change what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how you exercise, when you exercise. You change your social interactions, you change your likes and dislikes, sometime you even have to change your friends. All in the name of living with diabetes.

But I, long ago, learned that you can't live with that mindset. If you look at everything you do for the sake of staying healthy as a "sacrifice," you won't stay healthy for long. So, I no longer make sacrifices in my life in order to stay a healthy diabetic. I now, instead, make sacrifices in my diabetes health in order to live a little.

A healthy diabetic is who I am. But what's the point of staying healthy in order live, if you never actually live?

So, I still make sacrifices. I sacrifice a perfect blood sugar streak in order to go out for a drink with my friends. I trade in that beautiful 5.5 A1C for a glutinous Thanksgiving with my family. I go on exotic vacations and fun-filled road trips knowing full-well the traveling will set my sugars off for days. I throw carb counting out the window so I can enjoy a stress-free and romantic night out with my boyfriend.

The point is, I LIVE with diabetes.