The Answer & the Question

Most of us will agree that when we or a loved one is diagnosed with either diabetes or another 365 health challenge, one of the first questions we may tend to ask is, “why me?”  It may take very little time to come to the conclusion that there is no obvious reason to this question.  Here’s the thing though, have you found that you have gotten to that place in your mind & heart & self that answers that question with, “I don’t know & I don’t need the answer anymore?”

One of the things that I found along the way to the “I don’t know & I am okay with that” is doing something “with” diabetes to give it meaning or even make life so much huger than anything that diabetes could touch in my life.  It has taken time to get to that point & it has taken major effort physically, emotionally & spiritually.  Honestly, the physical side of diabetes was for me the easier of the three.  It was learning the best care regime to work with my body.  Sometimes, I have success with the regime & other times I don’t.  Either way, I try as much as possible to treat that part as the going through the motions part.  I try not to treat glucose tests & A1C results as final exams & renewal application forms for my pump & supplies as huge deals.  Most of the time, I take it in stride.  We are human & we do our best with the physical side of a disease that seems to have a moving target attached to it.  When I look at glucose results, if I have gone through all the possibilities for why that number on my meter looks weird & I still don’t “get it”, then I realize that I have done my best & I don’t scold myself over it. 

There are such a myriad of ways that we each get to choose to give our lives original meaning or make the difference that we are meant to make in the world.  The “way” will look different for each of us understandably.  Do you wonder though if even though each of us will make our own path of difference in the world that diabetes magnifies that?  Do you also believe that we really live our difference through acts of service?  Over the years, I have found that there is nothing quite as wonderful as the feeling of reaching out to others & doing something to hopefully let them know that someone else cares about them.  Whether people have physical challenges or not, most people do have struggles within their lives.  There is nothing like that feeling of knowing that others care about us.  Why would we know this & not want to share our own way of caring for others?  There are so many organizations that welcome volunteers who offer genuine compassion & care.  The ways that we share of ourselves is unlimited.  There is a quote by Erma Bombeck that is the motto of my heart & it is:  “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, I used everything you gave me.”  What is the motto of your heart?  If you don’t know what it is, then you have a priceless gift yet to give yourself.  Once you have a heart’s motto, you just may have the beginning point to go out there & give something of care to others in your own beautiful way. 

You are very likely to find that the exact way that you are meant to share & make a difference comes to you so gently & vividly.  That is what I have found over the years.  Over the years, there have been a diverse gift of opportunities to give of myself.  The organizations have changed at times over the years yet the continuation of reaching out in service will continue until my final breath.  Once I was diagnosed with type 1, I found that my heart was even more filled with the need to reach out to others.  The best part is that I found that in going through my own struggles that it made me more present with people & more enthusiastically myself in caring for others.  My empathy increased exponentially as I listened to struggles that others were facing. 

It is no secret that I was given a profoundly sentimental heart.  I try to balance that out with the humour that I find deeply healing as well.  Without the humourous side in my life, I think I would be a pretty intense person for many people’s taste.  Sometimes, we cry with others, or give hope through action or words (hopefully both), or understanding & yes humour when that is exactly right.  Stir that all together with love & that can send a ripple of care within the world that may not have been there before.

Okay, diabetes is here, yet I have found something to do “with” that.  The question does not need an answer of why it is here.  To turn diabetes into heartfelt compassion & care for others is something that we each get to choose.

My heart’s hope for you is that when you reflect upon the quote below that you answer these questions with an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

“At the end of the day, the only questions I will ask myself are….Did I love enough”  Did I laugh enough?  Did I make a difference?”

Smiles, Saundie :)

May you touch countless lives this weekend & Monday's sharing is entitled, "Ode to the Bearded Lady."  :) 

Smiles to all the Everyday Heroes Walking for Chapters of JDRF for the Cure on June 9th...we will be smiling with hope for all of our type 1 families throughout the whole world as our family of 6 walks too :)