Endurance

March 22nd, 2011 by Amy Gonsalves Leave a reply »

I’ve completed countless half marathons and two full marathons (so far).  When I started law school, everyone said “it’s a [three year] marathon, not a sprint.”  Neither of these are what any would consider “slight” or “easy” accomplishments.

But whenever anyone said that to me, I just smiled and nodded.  They were absolutely right, but I already knew I had it in me.

I live with type one diabetes.

I know endurance.

Someone (thanks CS!) commented on the Diabetes Outside Facebook page yesterday that diabetes is all about falling and getting back up.  I may phrase it differently, but she’s right: IT’S ALL ABOUT GOING THE DISTANCE WHEN IT COMES TO LIVING WITH DIABETES.

Yes, that means a lot of drudgery and a lot of pain in the neck things, but it also means you know what it takes to keep at a difficult task day in and day out.

There is no vacation from diabetes, but you know how to handle that.  You know how to ask others for help when it comes to just needing to share a smidge of the load.  You know how to look a lifetime of checks and shots and counting carbs and worries and mini crises smack dab in the eye and say “I’m still here.  I’m living my life.”

You know that diabetes isn’t about one meter reading, or one meal or one bolus.  It’s not one number, but is instead a mountain of numbers that seem to multiply exponentially over time.   It’s about putting one foot in front of the other over and over and over.  And over.

Every single one of us knows this, and every single one of us accomplishes a great thing every day.

THAT is, to me, endurance.

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