To The Young Girl Struggling to Love Herself with Type 1 Diabetes,

Being a young girl with type 1 diabetes means you are sweeter than most…literally. Being a young woman can be hard enough as it is and factoring in an auto immune disease doesn’t help with self-confidence. Trust me on this, I’ve been there and done that. I want to tell you that it won’t be hard. That everything will get easier and you will never have to worry about feeling this way again. I can assure you that half of that statement is true. It will get better, but days will still arise when you feel discouraged, broken, beaten, and like you’ll never be a normal teenage girl. Every day you endure pain. Constantly using needles, insulin, and monitoring your blood sugars so that you can live a normal and healthy life.

That’s a lot of pressure on a young girl especially with society's image of how young women should look and act. That dark place that your mind enters when things go wrong one day is a long road you don’t want to take…ever! It will be frustrating, annoying, painful, and possibly make you think giving up daily routines might “make it go away." Like ignoring this monster will make it disappear as if it never was around to begin with. Don’t go down that road. Don’t let that monster win.

Fight back, take charge, and be fearless. This disease does not define you. It never will. It will make you stronger, humble, more understanding, and shape you to be a more responsible woman than many could ever amount to be. This disease is a blessing in disguise. You will learn to love this beautiful struggle and inspire many to fight through it daily as you do. You are beautiful and I firmly believe that God chose you, and many others, to have this disease because He knew you were strong enough to handle it and come out of that dark place better than ever. You are chosen. So wear that pink insulin pump with pride and embrace your scars. Those marks are proof you have been through tough times and that better days are still ahead of you. You are fearless.

Sincerely,

The Girl Who Took the Long Road