Kerri Morrone: Living with Diabetes

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Viewing my disease as part of what explains me, instead of what defines me, made it easier to accept. That acceptance started me on the road back to taking care of myself.

So many moments of a normal day are touched by this condition. My fiancé and I have made the minutiae a part of our lives, which takes the disease off its pedestal and instead makes it part of a seamless landscape of life. Being able to talk freely about my disease – about anything, really – brings my fiancé and I closer and makes our relationship stronger.

Some diabetics keep their diabetes to themselves, disclosing at discreet intervals and building up to a comfortable moment of “telling.” Others wear their diabetes diagnosis on their sleeve and make it part of their introductions. It can be a clumsy conversation or it can be handled with confidence, but being close with someone means they know what your life involves. Because it is a disease that needs to be managed not only every day, but every minute, a little emotional encouragement goes a long way in maintaining the mental state of a diabetic. For me, it is something that needs to be disclosed almost immediately. Love me, love my diabetes.

Kerri Morrone writes the widely read and award-winning diabetes blog Six Until Me( www.sixuntilme.com), about her life as a twenty-something with type 1 diabetes. Featured inUS News and World Report and on CBNC, Kerri is an advocate for diabetes awareness and the power of the blogging community.