Today marks five years of blogging.
Well, okay, more than five years. I maintained a blog during the summer of 2003, and I experimented with a semi-private LiveJournal for quite awhile even after I started here.
But this particular blog? It came about five years ago as I (a) tried to express feelings regarding my own type 2 diabetes and hypothyroidism diagnoses earlier in 2005 and (b) tried to figure out my role in the husband’s type 1 diabetes following a hypoglycemic seizure the previous year. Gina created D-Blog Day and I created this space – thank you Gina, for getting me started.
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The few who came before me in diabetes blogging showed me that writing about these experiences could be therapeutic. To Kerri, I owe the greatest thanks of all in this area of my writing. Not only did she provide the insight I needed into the type 1 world and not only did she inspire my inner athlete to come out from hiding, she opened a huge door for me with the dLife column and giving me pep talks into doing more with being a patient using social media.
Eventually, I found the need to talk about my experiences with anxiety and depression openly, as there is no denying they played a role in the early onset of type 2 diabetes. I must thank Lee Ann and Scott for their continued support on going public with that information.
Many thanks also go out to David and Elizabeth Edelman, as they invited me to blog at Diabetes Daily a couple years back.
As a result, I moved most diabetes talk over there and started exploring my life here as a ChronicBabe as a whole – the diabetes, the mental health issues, and eventual admission of having lived with chronic pelvic pain. At least I try to be babelicious most of the time, though to be honest, it’s been more difficult lately. I know I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I will say it again, but Jenni rocks my world with her attitude as a ChronicBabe.
There must be some reason I keep doing the patient-blogging thing, right? It’s not just about me – it’s reaching out to those who may be experiencing a similar situation but cannot find their own words to express themselves. I cannot ignore the role of mental health in physical health – and I hope more people recognize the importance of healthy mind, healthy body.
For all of those who comment, who e-mail, who connect on some level – thank you not only for reading, but for sharing your own stories with me. I’m not alone – you’re not alone.
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Then there’s those darn cats. And my love of football. And travels around the country (and around the state). And cooking. And despite my better judgment, some politics and religion. (You’ll have to do some digging for those.)
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And there’s the dark and twisty side. After all the talk therapy I have encountered during my relatively short lifetime, I find I would much rather sit down and write my thoughts for the world to see. I know some of it is rather grim when I find myself dealing with some of the fumbles of life. What can I say? It’s cheaper than an hour on some therapist’s couch and I feel much better afterwards.
To those who keep coming back in spite of the dark and the twisty and the football fanaticism and those darn cats, thank you. Thank you, oh so very much.
I’m glad you write.
I hope you’ll continue to write.
Thanks for your encouraging words!
FIVE YEARS?!?! Holy congratulations! You’re a superstar!
Rachel, I love you, your voice, your honesty, and all that you bring to the community. Thank you for your constant bravery.
HAPPPY 5TH BLOGIVERSARY! I’m glad you write, and I learn from you always!
I’m so glad we got to meet in Florida this year ;)
It’s my 3rd Blogiversary today to and I’m SO GLAD that we share the same Blogiversary date!!
YOU ROCK
kelly k
Happy 5th Blogiversary, Rachel!!!! Keep on keepin’ on, doll. xoxo
Happy blogaversary, R!!! You are a remarkable writer and your posts always make me think (with thinking being such a challenge these days, with my days filled with Sesame Street and other assorted kid mess things). Thanks for the grown-up time. :)
Continue to kick ass. AND take names.
Happy blogoversary! It’s amazing to see those who’ve been out in the online world the longest, setting the stage for so many of us “newbies.” Your writing is awesome and such a valuable insight, and this community just wouldn’t be the same without you. Thanks for sharing what you do, and always keeping it real. You rock, and I’m always glad to hear your perspective.
But thank you also for recognizing the truly significant that shapes reality as we know it: Those Darned Cats.
Because honestly, where would we be without cats in this world??? Hmm.
Happy anniversary!
I recently “celebrated”, with mixed feelings, my blog’s third anniversary. It’s funny how once you get hooked, it’s hard to imagine stopping.
Happy Blogiversary!
Stopping by from the Chronic Babe Forum. It’s amazing what we all have to be grateful for and the different people and things we picked!
Rachel!
I am so happy you blogged that first time you are a gem to people who live with diabetes!
xoxoxo