Things I Believe

I believe we should live each day to the fullest.

I believe hope is something no one can take away.

I believe life is full of valleys and mountain tops.

I believe life is full of hurt, pain, suffering, and sorrow.

I believe life is also full of joy, happiness, hope, and love.

I believe today is the best.

I believe tomorrow is going to be better.

I believe sometimes things do not work out as planned but that there is always something to learn. 

I believe its up to us to stay positive even when the world brings us down.

I believe blood is not thicker than water and that DNA doesn't mean much when I think of "family."

I believe no one should ever feel alone especially when they are hurting.

I believe we are all here to use the gifts and talents we have to better the world we live in.

I believe we each can make a difference.

I believe waking up is something we cannot take for granted.

I believe we need to hug, kiss, and cherish all those in our lives that we love while we can.

I believe as a community we have the power to change things.

I believe having something to believe in, whatever it is, is a good thing. 

A World Diabetes Day Idea

It was two years ago that I wrote “Not By Choice” for World Diabetes Day.

It was about 6 months after that when I went into a studio and recorded it.

Earlier this month I performed it for the first time live.

And now I finally have a way to give back.

With the help of my friend Manny I was able to get in touch with the right people at the International Diabetes Foundation, the founders of World Diabetes Day. I told them that I wanted to send them 100% of the proceeds from the sales of the song from November 14^th, 2010 until the end of the year.

I never wrote this song to try and make money. That was not the point. The point was to provide that feeling of community and “I’m not alone” in a song. After performing it live I understand that the song has been able to be that comfort for many. So with the help of the IDF I hope that it will reach other people living with diabetes who may be needing that “you are not alone” message that the song offers.

Our stories may be different but our fight is the same.

If you purchased the song already, don’t worry all of the proceeds have been sitting in wait until I could do something like this so your purchase will help World Diabetes Day too.

If you purchased the song for yourself, maybe you could gift it to someone you know who has diabetes on November 14^th. It would be a way to spread the word and help raise awareness world wide, all for under a buck.

I would love to hear from any of you who purchased the song. Knowing it touched your heart is all the payment I need.

Not By Choice is available in all of the iTunes stores.

10 Years Coming

I got an envelope in the mail the other day.

Typically it’s either bills or junk mail (does anyone else refer to Junk Mail as Spam now? I always say that but just realized what a nerd I am for doing that. Oh well, moving on) but this was neither. This was something bulky.

This is going to sound crazy but when I know it may be some sort of a surprise I will not look at the return address. I love surprises so much that any time I can create one I do. So I opened up the envelope and pulled this out.

That is not an actual picture because my pic came out awful, but those are them.

I noticed there was a card inside and part of the note said, “These are actually yours. I have just been holding on to them for the past 10 years. No go out and kick some diabetes ass!”

And then I saw who signed the card.

GINGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

If you don’t know Ginger your assignment is to visit her site and check her out.

Here I will give you a head start on getting to know Ginger. This is her bio.

Ginger Vieira is 24 years old and has lived with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease for 11+ years. She holds 14 powerlifting records in drug-tested, national federations, and is the 2-time winner of the Vermont State Bench Press competition with a record lift of 190 lbs. At just over 5 feet tall, Ginger has squatted 265 lbs. and deadlifted over 300 lbs. Today, Ginger is a Cognitive Health & Chronic Illness Coaching Specialist. She works with people who are facing challenges within their health, body and mind. She's currently working on a book that will help people understand the mysterious highs and unexpected lows in their blood sugars, and how to adjust their insulin dosing to prevent those unwanted fluctuations. Her book is planned to be available by January 2011.

She is one of those people that as soon as she’s around you just feel better. She has an energy around her that is motivating, empowering, but also gentle, caring and kind. It is such a beautiful balance.

Thank you so much for the gift, I mean sending me my ‘chucks back and thanks for holding them all this time. I will make sure I get some more practice in with them soon.

I should tell you the reason I had Ginger hold them for me is because I had a little “accident” and had to remove them from my home for a while.

You have no idea how my fellow ninjai make fun of me for the ones I have been using! 

You Tube Tuesday #193 - Our Song

You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen
You shine just like sunlight rays On a winter snow
I just had to tell you so

Your eyes sparkle as the stars, like the moon they glow
Your smile could light the world on fire, or did you know?

Your mind's full of everything that I want to know
I just had to let you know
I just had to tell you so
You're my butterfly, Fly high
Fly fly fly

Happy Anniversary Honey. 

Self Esteem

I had a conversation over the weekend with a good friend of mine that I want to write about. My family and I were having lunch when she walked into the restaurant we were in and sat down to join us. We did the typical catching up on family and work stuff as friends typically do.

“So was this weekend your anniversary of having diabetes?” When she asked it kind of threw me since we have never really talked about but then I remembered that we are Facebook friends and I may have mentioned it on there once or twice.

I told her about the walk and celebration and she was really moved at how many people came out to be apart of it. It was nice to have someone not think it strange that people I had never met before would be willing to fly out to meet me and several other people with diabetes. It made sense to her. She could see that supporting one another creates a bond that is different than typical friendships. You share on a different level and that level can be very strong and important.

She soon started talking about a friend of hers who has a son that was diagnosed not so long ago with type 1.

“He has issues with self esteem and feels like taking care of himself is pointless.” I wasn’t sure how to respond. Self esteem has been a problem of mine all my life that I am still working on.

After a moment I said, “There is a whole side of diabetes that really takes it toll on your emotions. I mean, I am broken. I don’t work right. But there is no trade in’s or returns. It can be so depressing and lonely and that is why this community helps me so much and is so dear to my heart.” I was trying not to get too emotional since you know I can be a teary eyed ninja.

After our meal we went on our way but I could not get this thought out of my head. Does diabetes affect our self esteem? Is it just because I had such a struggle with self esteem that diabetes made it worse? My self esteem is better now but not great. When did it change? When did I finally start believing in myself?

Then it hit me. My self esteem issues have improved because of the OC. I realized that all of the encouragements, pats on the back, and support that I have received from all of you is why I am slowly starting to not doubt and dislike myself.

I had never really thought about this added bonus of being part of this community but it all seemed very clear to me afterwards. Do you feel this way? How is your self esteem? Was it better or worse because of diabetes? Do you think diabetes affects it? Does the OC help?

I would love to hear what you think. I wish I could sit and talk to all of you about this. It is weighing on my mind for some reason.