Young Leaders pen powerful letters to their diabetes

Dear diabetes,

We have been together for 10 years now … we made it to double digits… however I find it hard to celebrate the time we’ve spent with each other.

Sometimes you get the better of me. 

You overwhelm me,

You make me cry,

You make me angry.

For too long, you held sway over my life, dictating what I could eat, how I could live, and even how I felt about myself. But not anymore.

You see, I've come to realise that you don't define me.

I know you're a part of my life forever, an unwelcome guest who barged in without invitation, but you don't get to call the shots.

Living with you hasn't been easy. There have been challenges, setbacks, and moments of frustration. However, through it all, I've learned something invaluable – strength.

I've learned to adapt, to persevere, and to thrive in spite of your presence.

You may have forced me to change my diet, monitor my blood sugar levels, and inject insulin, but you haven't taken away my ability to make choices. I decide how I respond to you.

There are days when you throw obstacles in my path, but I've learned how to navigate through them. I've learned to listen to my body, to recognise the signs, and to take action when necessary. And in doing so, I've become stronger than I ever thought possible.

So, dear Diabetes, know this – you may be a big part of my life, but I refuse to let you take over my happiness, my dreams, or my sense of self-worth. I am more than a diagnosis. I am resilient, I am determined and I am in control.

Our relationships may not ever see eye to eye, but that’s okay… I have learned enough from you to know that I’m perfectly capable of living my life the way I want… you’re just there to remind me how strong I am now and how much stronger I will become.

Lauren

Dear diabetes,

It’s been 4 years now.

Day in day out.

I cling on to some hope

that one day I do not have to fight you

I wish things could be so much better and

Different.

You’ve given me something

Experiences

Resilience

Connections

Something to cherish.

Yet something I hate that is also

On my nerves all day

Some say they don’t know how I can live with you.

Some call me brave.

I’m still holding onto memories.

A life I never wished to leave behind.

Behind me a blue sky.

In front a dark cave.

Perhaps one that reaches light eventually.

I’m blindly grasping onto a red rope

On a bridge between two mountains.

Sometimes I find my courage.

In Places I never expect to.

—-

(Now read it from bottom to top)

Dear diabetes,

It has been 10 years now, 10 years since you changed my whole life, 10 years since I was thrown in to the fire and I had to figure out how to live with you.

At the start I was not sure I would ever know how to live with you but now you have forged me, made me resilient, determined and brave.

Throughout all the trials you have given me, and although they were not easy, I still passed. I used to see you as an enemy, as something to defeat like in the old stories of knights fighting dragons, but now I know that I would not be the same without you, that you were the thing that made me who I am today.

Diabetes you forged me and gave me the ability to never back down from a challenge, to keep going through the hardest of struggles, to never give up until I had given it my all and even then you gave me the strength to try again.

As I overcame you and adapted to the life you pushed on me, so now anything is possible and any challenge beatable because of you. I used to think you were a beast to defeat, now I see that you are a thing that has changed me, tested me and moulded me into someone stronger and for that I am grateful.

I know that I can achieve things despite you being around, you do not limit or define me, but you did make me who I am and I am stronger because of you. I will push on until my dreams have been achieved.

Dear diabetes,

We often feel the need to have possession over the things we love,

And I’m not confident every day,

So I appreciate you from three steps back.

I am worthy despite your burden.

Through bated breath I allow you room,

Room for forgiveness,

Even for just a second.

We all have bad habits,

Allowances.

You are floodlights, blind spots and time machines.

You are also magic, minefields and mayhem.

I only ask you change for the better.

And you allow me forgiveness,

Even for just a second.

For times that you’re not at the centre of my decisions.

Believe me it does happen.

I want to watch us grow,

Let me help you.

How selfish would I be to think that I could be everything with you.

So instead I will be everything I am,

Letting you be everything you are.

And going forward,

It makes sense for you and I,

To appreciate each other from three steps back.

Dear diabetes,

Well, I will have lived with you for 6 years this July and I honestly thought you'd be a lot harder to deal with, but here I am chilling out at home and I barely notice you.

Yes, you can decide to be stubbornly low or high and annoy me by deciding you'd rather have me be a passenger instead of driving, however I know your tricks and what to expect, although there's no doubt you'll come up with something new for me to figure out and add to the ever growing list of what to expect.

I just have one question: what is it with you and going very low after playing table tennis? Seriously, because I've eaten half a small Easter egg just to keep you up and it's only worked for about 2hrs.

Oh well, time to go eat the other half.

Dear diabetes,

I’m going to start painting a picture of you today…

I see you in many of the animals that I help to look after.

You were a blank canvas at the start, but now you are a menagerie.

You rely on me to feed you, and clear up the mess.

I carefully weigh out your meals and record your data.

You like to play games with me. Sometimes you are well behaved and purring at my side, and other times, for no reason at all, you just get up and run away from me, out of control.

You can be like a graceful swan, calm and serene on the surface, but working like crazy underneath to give that feeling of control.

You can be like an eagle soaring sky high on the breeze; or grounded and slow, plodding along like a giant tortoise.

You can be like a lorikeet guzzling sugary nectar, or a stubborn ‘hyper’ mule refusing to budge, or a hungry ape where only bananas will sustain.

You’re sometimes a snake within, but you’re also my loyal lapdog companion.

Your trace gives me camel vibes… one hump or two (or three…)?

You can be so camouflaged, I hardly know you’re there; other times you’re a juggernaut of a charging rhino, and the weight of one too.

You’ve made me feel like a lone wolf wandering through the woods, but now I feel I’ve found my pack, my herd, my flock of DUK's (Diabetes UK)

So that’s my picture for now. I wonder which animal I’ll paint you as tomorrow…