Just One More

I've shared a rough of the the introduction to Dear Warriors. Now, I'd like to share a possible ending. Please leave comments if you have a response, suggestion or question! Deadline for art submissions is July 31! I'd love to see your work!

Artist: Abby, 28	Age at diagnosis: 22
Title: “I traveled across the country by myself for a week. That was pretty scary as I didn’t have my husband with me as a safety net. But my passion is travel and I did it!.”

“But when you do things like this, you should always aim to beat others by doing one more. It’s important to have that mindset.”

- South Korean Olympic speed skating gold medal winner, Lee Seung-Hoon, on SBS’s Master in the House

I’ve covered hockey twice, now I’m moving on to speed skating. I was shocked by the shape of Lee Seung-Hoon’s feet when he showed them to the hosts on this show. Years of workouts had caused his body to protect itself in a spectacular fashion. He explained how he had pushed himself from elementary school age, resulting in the callouses and him experiencing such exhaustion, he truly felt he couldn’t take another step. However, he practiced a mindset of “just one more”, and that led him to eventually winning gold.

Pushing ourselves. Just one more. We Diabetic Warriors know of this.

I was struck as much with Abby’s life story on her photography blog, photograbetic.wordpress.com, and the background she gave me on this shot, as I was the atmosphere she created in this photo. Her composition is a serene and soft one of San Francisco. Our view is clouded by both fog and subject. Abby is standing tall, looking outward at a half-seen expanse, and our focus is drawn to her, realizing that she is flying off to amazing places like the tattoo that adorns her body. She’s pushing her boundaries and exploring the world, using her body, passions, grit, family support and the tools of a Diabetic Warrior. Is everything picture-perfect and well defined for her? No. But all of it make up who Abby really is. This is the body, mind, spirit and tools acting as one.

We are behind Abby. We are also Abby ourselves- in our own ways. There’s a laundry list of dreams we Diabetic Warriors have and chasms we must cross. It’s a long race. We, like the speed skaters, go around and around and around, over and over again. It can be mayhem. However, we also have quiet moments, like this one captured by Abby, where we can contemplate our journey- our race- past, present and future.

I believe I’ve covered quite a few of these struggles within these pages. I hope I’ve also highlighted some goodness, skills, and light that we, as Diabetic Warriors, can share and practice with fellow Warriors of all types. Abby looks alone. She is not. Fellow Warriors stand tall with her.

How do I know this? I live this truth. I had a ton of help in getting this book finished, for which I want to express my gratitude. First, to all the artists and their families. You have come to me when I’ve needed you and in amazing ways. Next, to early readers and editors, including my neighbors and friends, Marlene Oswald (the keystone to Dear Teachers), Amy Manns and Dr. Kathy Phelan. Special thanks to Audrey Farley, Editor of InsulinNation, to the folks at BeyondType1 and the members of the Facebook group, The Diabetic Journey. When I reached out for ideas to improve this book’s message, you all went out of your way to offer advice and assistance.

I thank you for reading. I thank you for expressing yourself on these pages. I thank everyone who has challenged my perspective and understandings. I thank everyone who has distracted me from my pains and put a smile on my face by telling me their own stories. I thank everyone who has shown me that I’m not alone. I hope we can keep the sharing going on my blog, other social media and in person.

Writing this book has not cleared away my inner demons, but it has given me some clarity and patience. In myself and in others. It’s revealed some truths I hadn’t faced but needed to sit with and which I must still work with. Over time.

That’s the key. With time, almost anything is possible. Time gives us opportunity. To try.

Just one more.

Introducing Dear Warriors

I wanted to share the introduction to my Work in Progress, Dear Warriors: A Guided Journal to Support & Inspire T1Ds and Their Warrior Allies, set to publish by October 14, in time for November's Diabetes Awareness Month and World Diabetes Day on November 14. 

Do you or someone you know have any art the expresses your unique experience as a person with T1D? I am welcoming art for consideration in the book's illustrations until July 31. Please see Collaborations are Awesome for more information.

Introduction: Why “Warriors”?

Having type 1 diabetes (T1D) can be alienating and exhausting. I think that’s why the term “warrior” has been used in recent years to describe us. It's supposed to make us feel stronger.

I really resisted accepting and using that term as I wrote this book. “Warrior” is used by so many and the baggage of its meaning is getting heavier and heavier as the years go by. Take a moment to list things you think of when you hear the term. From a negative perspective, you may picture:

• ·        Hostility and confrontation
• ·        Exhaustion and isolation
• ·        Grit and misery
• ·        Massive weaponry
• ·        Win or die

That’s not the whole story.

As a former master gardener and someone who worked in botany once upon a time, I’m much more inclined to harmonious nature themes. Think puffy clouds and cute chipmunks. Among my brainstorming notes for this book’s outline, is a tree I drew as a representation of what a human is. We, like trees, are composed of several parts (more on that later), and we interact with our environments. For trees, that’s water, sun, air and the ground they find themselves. For us, our “environments” are the things and opportunities we have around us. As I sat with the idea, I realized that in both cases, if there’s a bunch of individuals together (trees create forests and people create communities), they also have positive and negative interactions with each other.

Trees fight for space in a forest. People fight for space in a community.

That last thought is what convinced me to use the term “Diabetic Warriors”. “Fighting for” is a vague phrase, often related to survival and winning, with the visuals I’ve listed. “Fighting for” can also mean “struggling for”, and that adds more depth to our life picture.

We are all struggling for something. That’s what life is. However, the struggle or fight does not have to be the completely devastating guerilla warfare we sometimes believe (and experience). There are benefits in living in the forest. There can be honor on that battlefield of life.

With this book, I hope to bring back the emphasis of honor when it comes to “Warriors”, especially, Diabetic Warriors. By honorable, I mean: able to be respected and to behave with respect. I want us to have images of:

• ·        Teamwork and trust
• ·        Collaboration and sharing
• ·        Intense effort and joy
• ·        Resourcefulness and creative thinking
• ·        Alliance-building and shared experiences

Please take this opportunity to write down your own words on what you think describe the honorable Warrior of today. To me, honorable Warriors…

With that, I welcome you as a fellow Warrior- part of my tribe and forest!  Although our details differ, we are a band united by some common threads, including type 1 diabetes, thus we are not only Warriors, we are Diabetic Warriors. Diabetes touches us or someone we hold dear.

Catch that last word? My book titles include the salutation “Dear” for a reason. Corny as it sounds, we’re dear to someone. You’re probably dear to many, but you are dear, at the very minimum, to one very important person: yourself. A second goal of the book is to prove we are united and dear in any number of other ways. Ways that can offer us strength and light.

Our dearness matters. Our relationship to others matters. This Warrior idea is a universal one and I want to help build our connections with other people- other Warriors. We’re together, including people without the need for insulin. We all benefit by living that truth. To present this argument, I’ve relied on other minds and life stories for support. There are images I’ve included from a range of people with T1D and voices of those with diabetes and those without. I believe all of it helps build the narrative that our forest, our army, is bigger than we usually allow it, or believe it, to be.

My last goal in Dear Warriors is to challenge us to stretch. We are something today. We can be something else tomorrow, if we try. I’ll ask questions to both you and myself. I’ve set aside space for you to write down your reactions, your past, your hopes and your plans. You’ll see my prompts in bold as I’ve done in this introduction. I want Dear Warriors to be a working space for growth and acceptance, so that the book you hold becomes specific to you.

In summary, we’re all Warriors.  

When I refer to “DW”s in this book, it stands for 2 things:

Diabetic Warriors:

Honorable people,

who just happen to also have the added twist of type 1 diabetes.

Dear Warriors:

Honorable people, T1D or otherwise,

who are held dear by themselves and others.