I’ve been doing the diabetes thing for about four months now and it seem like I’ve gotten a handle on a lot of stuff. It especially seems like I’ve gotten a handle on the day to day stuff like testing blood sugar. And then, a day like today happens. I go to test my sugar. I prick my finger (one of the good, always bleeds enough fingers) and… nothing… Now I check through the usual stuff am I dehydrated? Nope… Is that finger “adjusting” to frequent pokes? Ok, I’ll try the other hand… Poke and… a little blood but not enough. The it hits me, it’s cold. The blood is closer to the core of my body because my body is trying to insulate it’s self from the cold!
Most of the testing I have done is in the summer… day temps most of this time have been in the 80’s and 90’s today the expected high is 63 and it hasn’t made it out of the 50’s at 1:00 in the afternoon and It was still in the 40’s when I tested (and being the half German half polar bear that I am I had the windows open…) yes… a thirty degree shift in temperature just might affect doing a simple sugar test. I’d never thought of that before.
Straddling the line between both sides of life…
I’m working on starting a Kickstarter campaign to get a diabetes log book published. It’s one of those projects that most publishers aren’t interested in but I think it is worth while. My version includes a few things I wish the others hand had. So, I’m looking over stuff on doing a campaign and I find a graph that’s showing how social media posts and interactions affect Kickstarter contributions… There’s that old sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach… Yes, I knew there was a link and that I will eventually need to talk about the campaign on social media, but I’d never seen how strong the link really is. In spite of my blog and the quest for publication I’m actually kind of a private guy… Am I really ready to be blasting my ideas all over the social media world. Will anybody listen?
Putting it all together…
Yeah, I think people will listen. And, yeah I figured the cold thing out and know to warm up my hands before I test. The thing here is no matter how much we think we’ve learned, there will probably be something new out there that surprises us; something where real life doesn’t meet our theory; something we’ve never encountered; something that’s just plain weird. This actually isn’t a bad thing!
When we encounter something we didn’t know we have an opportunity to learn and grow. We have the opportunity to know more and do more than we could before. As you learn more there is a chance for these opportunities to get rarer, so it’s a real gift when one happens.
If you decide to stop and not touch the edges of what you know the chance to learn becomes even smaller. That is really sad, because learning is a key part in how we become more than we are. Whether it is learning a new quirk or trick of your diagnosis, learning a new way of doing dialog or story structure, or learning something not even attached to what you usually do, learning makes you more able to be and do as you will.
So, don’t let these little moments of scary or weird get to you. Cherish them! Use them! Grow and be strong!
And, if these learning moments don’t come to you… go out and find them!
It’s not that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks… It’s that the old dog knows most of the available tricks, so you have to find something new before you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Nope, wasn’t kidding
Not kidding at all, teachable moments and learning experiences are how we become and grow stronger. Sometimes you need to go out and look for them.
I was also serious in that I have an idea for an improved blood sugar log book that I’m setting up a Kickstarter for. I’ll tell you a bit more about that in the next couple of weeks as I get closer to the launch.
In the mean time,
that’s it for today dear reader.
Until next time: find the new in everything and use it for good.
Words Mean Stuff 