Warning. This blog may have been written under angry frustration realising my bloodsugar was way too high after consuming a relatively normal-sized, non-sugary breakfast (because somehow most people will propably think I ate some sugary serial that I should’ve taken into consideration (can you feel me sighing and almost see me rolling my eyes?))

A friend and I were on our way home from an event and I was letting out steam about people who talk as if diabetics can’t eat anything and misunderstands being a type 1 and type 2. It comes down to being informed and you know what, that’s okay! I just find, that I cannot take peoples comments or statements serious when its about something they don’t know.

The thing is, that it’s sometimes not the sugary things that’s my pitfall – it can just as equally be the food that is considered healthy. Some mornings, my body responds in one way to a bowl of oatmeal and other days I arive at work way too low after eating something that yesterday needed to insulin-supplement. In some seasons I need more of one kind of insulin, in others I’m getting waaay too much. Sometimes stress can have an impact, and other times I can be presured beyond extremes and my blood sugar responds as it should. Sometimes I can run 6 km and do a half-an-hour hard physical workout as well other times I can only walk a couple of hundred meters before needing to adjust my sugar.

What most people think is that I can just pinpoint my bloodsugar levels down to what I eat – and yes, that has an influence. But it’s not an exact science. Sometimes it’s presure. Stress. Exercise.

So what can you do? Don’t assume you know. If you see me eat cake, don’t even let it cross your mind that I can’t have that. On a daily basis I’ve been nice, trying to explain.

But I’m tired of being met with the same misunderstandings and outdated scientific results. So, quite frankly; It is absolutely none of your business. How your family member chooses to handle his or her diabetes does not necessarily fit me.

And one last thing. In Denmark, the old term for a diabetic was that he or she is suffering from “Sugar-illness” (direct translation), can we please erase that term from existence? I am concerned about ALL CARBS not just SUGAR! So no, I do not suffer from “sukkersyge” – I am diabetic… Astronomic difference (Maybe not, but I’m pretty pissed at this point).

Oh. And allow me to apologize if I’m offending anyone. I know you mean it as a well-meaning advice. But if I shouldn’t advice others in areas I have no experience in, then let me just assume that goes the other way around as well. Please, consider, if you are offended by this. Maybe it’s because you think you are being a good friend.

Sometimes being a friend entails one listens, supports and asks questions. Nothing more.

Oh, maybe just a hug!

And no, I am not always good at staying within those lines myself but always try to.

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At a meeting, in a badly airconditioned conference room I realise what I thought was a pretty a-okay preparation should’ve had a different direction. The meeting was not what I initially thought it would be about but I still decide to go for the creative, new-thinking direction I prepared for.

Thoughts like, “I’m such an imposter, when will they call me out? Why should my word have such a big impact? When will they know?” are running through my mind

As I begin expanding my thoughts, research and results, slowly but steadily, I see minds changing. I notice how I’ve manage to point in a direction they never even thought of possible. After, as I was de-breathing (pon intented) at my desk, I just couldn’t stop smiling.

I get such a rush out of knowing and experiencing how the knowledge I dug up, can guide others in a completely different direction and maybe even end with a better outcome.

After 2 years of applying for jobs, freelancing and temporary solutions after University, with an aditional year being in a job-position that was okay, but never challenging, I finally got a chance getting my first Uni-applicable Job. I ended up somewhere creative, flexible and open for new opportunities.

Everyday, I find myself committing to “fake it till you make it” and every day, I somehow manage to leave work with a feeling of having contributed to something. Done something.

Slowly, from not believing that anyone could ever need my services and abilities, to the fact that I now more than ever trust that if not in this – maybe even more in the next.

This journey has been one amazing learning curve. I’ve learned so much about myself, the work-environment I thrive in the most, and what I can do. I’ve gained competencies, I just a year ago never dreamed I vould achieve (and btw preparing me for those applications I never had a shot at straight out of UNI).

But most of all, I’ve learned that dreams are rarely lived out from the moment I decide it to. It takes work getting there. Sometimes it’s the weirdest way one gets to be prepared for the one thing one wants to do.

I still want to go to the Middle East. That is still in my scope, and while I in the beginning couldn’t see how I would get the competencies I seemed to need, now I’m in a very different position where I might have a shot!

To me “faking it” meant realising I had no clue, speak out that I didn’t know but would love to learn and act on it.

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