Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

"I am a type 1 diabetic. And this? Well, this is my attempt at making people understand what type 1 is, and what it’s like." It feels surreal to be writing this. I wrote those words on the 8th of May, 2013 in my first ever blog post. I was 17, in Year 12 at school and had just had my third diaversary. I was excited to try this blogging thing, but also incredibly nervous about sharing my personal stories with a big audience. My goal was to teach friends and family about my life with Type 1, in the hope to minimise the number of stupid comments I got. But then it occurred to me that people I didn't know might read it too. What if they didn't like me? What if they thought I was stupid? What if absolutely no one ever reads a single thing I write and this is a big embarrassing flop? None of those things happened, but so much more did. I met some amazing people along the way, got my foot in the advocacy door and accidentally became a mental health advocate in t...

I walked into a local yoga studio with some apprehension. Would I still be able to "do" yoga? What if the other students were judging how stiff I am, despite being the youngest person in the room? "Leave your bags in the desk over here". The desk is on the other side of the room. What if I go low and have to walk across the room to get my things mid practice? I lay my mat on the floor in my allocated spot at the front. Naturally I've put it down the wrong way. "Ah, nerves" the instructor said with a smile. "That obvious huh?" I ease into the practice and slowly get used to the instructor adjusting every one of my postures. "Are you a dancer?" I don't quite know whether to be proud or offended as she studies my foot position. Don't dancers have notoriously dreadful feet? "For a while. I took up tap dancing again a few years back" "I knew it" she laughs, moving my foot inward from its turnou...