The Power of Community

The power of community is unmeasurable. I learned this early on in my diagnosis. I was shown the diabetes community both in real life and online within weeks of my diagnosis and I credit my positivity on that. Knowing people who are going through what you’re going through is incredibly helpful and also very healing at times.  You realize you’re not the only one who may be struggling or feeling drained and you connect over things that others in your life do not

I should have known that motherhood would be the same, it just turns out there are way more opportunities and mothers out there than there are type 1s!  Motherhood is funny because you are literally thrown into it without really being able to prepare. I mean we think we are prepared because we buy the things, we read the books or we do the classes (I only bought the things & totally winged the rest...) but really nothing can prepare you for what being a parent is really like.  Similar to diabetes, you can be the smartest endocrinologist with a strong knowledge of diabetes, but without that lived experience it’s hard to know what it’s really like until you’re thrown into it. .

I consider myself lucky because I didn’t deal with postpartum depression like some mothers do, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have the emotions, anxiety, worry, stress or loneliness that comes with being a mom. Those first few months are rough!  While I had found a few mom instagrammers online (which is both helpful and not helpful) I didn’t immediately think about finding a motherhood community to help re connect me to the outside world, like I said those first few months are rough.

Finding the diabetes community not only changed the way I perceived my diagnosis, but it also introduced me to many amazing people.  I knew that opening up myself to other mothers surely had to have a similar positive ripple effect into my life and surely it has.   It really is community that makes things easier.  Every time we interact with others, we get the opportunity to learn something new, feel a new connection, have an ah-ha moment, re energize or just feel a little less alone in this crazy adventure.

Community is so important regardless of what you may be going through, like that one saying says, “find your tribe & love them hard.”

Kayla