10 Things I Love About Diabetes

When I was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes I honestly hated everything about. I’m not going to pretend that I’ve never had a problem with it. But over time, it has taught me so many invaluable lessons and has helped me become the person I am today: a happy and healthy guy thriving with diabetes. I’ve not only accepted living with diabetes, but I’ve also learned to love it and manage it so that it doesn’t manage me. I can honestly say diabetes has given me more than it has taken from me. So, I decided to put together a list of all the things that diabetes has given me. Here it is…

1. Diabetes Taught Me How to Turn Adversity Into Opportunity

Adversity is an amplifier. It will make you more of who you already are. It will expose all of your strengths and weaknesses. If you’re positive, passionate, optimistic, and purpose-driven, it will make you more of those things. If you move through life with a victim mentality or a sense of entitlement, pessimism and negativity, it will make you more of those things too.

Either way, adversity is inevitable. We will all face it throughout our lives. Whether it manifests in the form of a health condition, disease diagnosis, a relationship breakdown, financial difficulties, a relationship breakdown or the loss of a loved one, it is giving you an opportunity to see yourself through a lens that you may never have been able to see yourself through before. It’s giving you a chance to examine yourself under a microscope to see what you’re really made of deep down at your core. Your core values, beliefs, work ethic, and true character. They say ‘adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it’. The best part is, if you like what you see you can use it for further growth and development. If you don’t like what you see, you have an opportunity to change into the person you want to be. So it really can make you or break you. We are not defined by adversity but rather how we respond to it. We need to start making adversity synonymous with opportunity.

“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”.

2. Diabetes Improved My Fitness

It’s no secret that a huge part of my diabetes management (and one of my five pillars) is exercise. I move my body in a different way every day as part of my overall management strategy. As a result of my consistent movement, I’m in the best physical shape of my life. I’m the most athletic (and as a nice byproduct the most aesthetic) that I’ve ever been.

3. Diabetes Strengthened My Mind

To me, nothing is more impressive and attractive than mental fortitude. A strong mind, when accompanied by a strong body, is a lethal combination. Diabetes is a full time job. They say the average person with diabetes makes an extra 180 decisions every day. The mental strength required to not only deal with being diagnosed with diabetes, but to manage it on a daily basis is something I am very proud of.

4. Diabetes Improved My Understanding of Nutrition

After being diagnosed with diabetes, I made it my responsibility to learn as much as I possibly could about nutrition. I bought a food scale, downloaded a food app, and started weighing all my food and storing it in my memory bank. Now I can eye-off a meal and calculate the individual macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat) within seconds. My understanding of nutrition has improved beyond belief. I know how certain foods affect my blood sugar levels just by looking at them. I’m still learning.

5. Diabetes Gave Me Passion, Purpose, and Direction

My background as a qualified health professional and my own personal triumph with managing diabetes has ignited a passion to share everything I know. Drew’s Daily Dose is a home that inspires, empowers and enables people to thrive, rather than simply survive. Everything I share is a combination of science-based evidence and personal experience. I love helping people via my online coaching platform. It doesn’t feel like work. My mission is to equip people with the tools required to take control of their health so that like me, they can live their best life!

6. Diabetes Taught Me What it Really Means to be Healthy and Happy

I know it sounds crazy, but I can honestly say that I’m happier and healthier today with diabetes than I was before my diagnosis. Health is not merely the absence of disease. It is an holisitic approach to living. It’s about feeling good in your skin, having endless energy, being fit, having a healthy gut, sleeping well, being injury free and free from other physiological complications. I’ve learnt things about the human body that I would never have known otherwise. I’ve learnt how to build muscle and burn fat effectively. I’ve discovered which food groups affect my blood sugar levels. I’ve discovered ways to improve my insulin sensitivity and ultimately reduce my overall insulin requirements. The list goes on. Most importantly, I’m doing my best to prevent other diseases from manifesting down the track.

To be happy doesn’t mean to take the easy road, free from pain, struggle and difficulties. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Happiness is a byproduct of conquering obstacles. When you’re faced with something difficult and you conquer it, you come away with a sense of empowerment and fulfilment which can never be taken away from you. You’ll be able to take that sense of accomplishment with you forever as another weapon to add to your arsenal which you can rely on when the time calls for it.

7. Diabetes Taught Me How to Accept Imperfections

I used to be obsessed with doing everything possible to be the healthiest version of myself. Well, I still am. But now the difference is, I no longer beat myself up if I fall short. For example, some days my blood sugar levels are higher than desired but it doesn’t get me down anymore. I accept it and take responsibility for my next actions to ultimately solve the problem. If I miss a workout or eat something that I shouldn’t have, I bounce back without any guilt or self-hate. I’m ok with being imperfect.

 8. Diabetes Taught Me That Movement Is Medicine

The day after being diagnosed with diabetes, I learnt the most valuable lesson of my life, and one that I will never forget: Exercise. Is. Medicine. If you want to hear about the moment of discovery, read this post! Exercise was also the reason why I didn’t end up in hospital around the time of my diagnosis. It enabled me to reduce my insulin requirements by nearly 70%. Exercise is a very important tool and one that I use dasily to maintain tight blood glucose control. Without it – I’d be lost.

9. Diabetes Inspired Me to Write a Song

Before I was diagnosed with diabetes I wanted to have a career as a singer-songwriter. Diabetes was certainly a setback that halted my dreams of becoming a performing artist, but later on, it turned out to be the catalyst that inspired me to write and record one of the best pieces of music I have ever produced called ‘My Two Hands’. I put all of the emotions that I was feeling around the time of my diagnosis into song-form including sadness, grief, despair, heartbreak, strength, courage, and resilience. It has become the soundtrack of my life. Click here to listen now.

10. Diabetes Motivates Me to Make The Most Out of Every Moment

When your health gets taken away from you and it feels like your life is over, that’s when you get a reality check about what really matters. Diabetes was certainly my wake-up call that life is more fragile than I thought and that I am far from invincible. It let me know very quickly that I need to take control and responsibility for my health going forward. It really put life into perspective. Nowadays, I take nothing for granted. Be it a morning swim, a meal, a coffee, or a workout –  l enjoy it with every fibre of my being.

On that note, I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes of all time and one that really resonates with me:

“Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realise they were the big things”

Thanks for reading. I truly hope this post can help you to become a happier and healthier version of yourself. Keep an eye out for my next post: 10 Things I Hate About Diabetes. If you haven’t already subscribed to my newsletter, sign up below to be the first to know when new articles go up.

Mindfulness