I keep seeing on various diabetes related posts and pages and websites a repeating question that rubs me the wrong way. Two questions, really, and neither of them are inherently bad on their own.
It’s the ORDER and TIMING of them that gets me.
The first one is “how are you?” which is a fine question that helps us move through the world and our days.
It’s the immediate next question, or horror of horrors, the question posed first: “how are your numbers?”
I want there to be a LOAD of time in between those two questions. I want to answer “how I am” completely, which maybe 5-10% of the time may involve mention of a blood glucose level, and then tell you what my hopes and dreams are for the next hour, day, week, year. Where I’m going and what I’m doing.
But the “how are your numbers” will sidetrack me every time if I haven’t been allowed to tell you WHO and how I am, first.
Since I’m a lot more than a type one diabetic.
I’m just like anyone else. I just think about my diabetes while I’m doing everything else most anyone else does. (I think this may explain why a lot of people tend to “hide” the fact they have diabetes from other people in their lives.)
Thankfully I tend to get these questions too close together from people I don’t know. People I may consider acquaintances. But I used to get it from my family members a really long time ago. It’s just what they thought about me, I guess. They worried about my diabetes.
But I think the more they worry about my diabetes, the less they see ME and that right there is a massive problem that needs to end as quickly as possible.
Fortunately in my life I’m pretty sure it has ended, and I’m doing a fairly good job maintaining my identity on its own separate and distinct from my disease.
This all factors into the March challenge because I think both sides (diabetes side and non-diabetes side) need to recognize this phenomenon out there. Every person needs time in their day, every day, where they focus on being themselves even if it’s for two minutes. And for some of us our diabetes will come with us because it’s a part of who we are… but never ever EVER the entire part, or the most interesting, or the most dramatic or emotional.
Next time someone asks you how your numbers are before they ask you how you are, I say: don’t answer. Don’t answer until you tell them your diabetes is just a tiny part of who you are, thank you very much.
Have a good one.
