This pic was taken in 2018, for Zane's newborn photo shoot. TJ was 21 months old. 

I’VE FOUND MY PURPOSE IN LIFE. Keep reading to find out how living with diabetes has shown me why I was put on this earth. Happy World Diabetes Day. 

Today is an incredibly special day. It’s like my birthday or diaversary, but the whole world of people living with diabetes celebrates. I love the connection I feel to everyone living with diabetes. I love seeing everyone posting and sharing their story. 

Our stories are so unique and the more we share, the more we help others feel like they’re not alone. If I’ve seen your account, or even if I haven’t seen your account yet, you have helped me feel like I am not alone.

I lived for 16 years without any support from a community of people living with diabetes. I started my Instagram account in 2015 to share my diabetic journey. I didn’t realise my goal was to find a connection; five years later I have found everything I’m looking for and more.

I’VE FOUND MY PURPOSE IN LIFE. I want to help everyone living with diabetes feel like they can do anything, they can fulfil their dreams and diabetes doesn’t hold them back. 

Growing up I wanted to find my passion in life so badly that it’s taken living with diabetes for 22 years, working in the construction industry for 12 years, getting a degree in business, traveling the world, getting married to @trevorcookhale and having 2 baby boys that I craved the answers to questions like; what inspires me? What was I put on this earth to do? How can I help others? and how can I find meaning and purpose in a career? And ultimately what would I do for free? 

Well, I’ve found my answer, because I am dedicated to helping people feel great, especially people living with T1D. I am grateful that I was given something — that doesn’t have a return policy — that inspires me to help others, while helping myself. My mum wrote me a note once and it said “aspire to inspire before you expire.” I did it mum, I discovered that I want to inspire people and that I care so deeply about others journey and helping them feel great. 

I love sharing our stories and raising awareness. I have big dreams and big goals. I’m going to achieve them one small step at a time by staying connected to the diabetes community, to whom I’m so grateful.  We are coming up to Thanksgiving here in America and it is a time to reflect on what we are thankful for.

We can manage diabetes in so many different ways that being grateful for it can sometimes seem like a burden. But I wouldn’t be writing this and you reading this unless we had this thing (living with diabetes) to connect us.  

Happy World Diabetes Day! 

Being diabetic is not without its challenges. Pregnancy was the hardest time for me because the mental, physical and emotional factors are all heightened. They are so intense that you can often feel alone before and after having the baby.
 
For me, seeking out a support network was vital. Connecting online is the best way, if you do not have local support. I found a super positive support group called the T1D Sugar Mommas, the group provides a warm nurturing environment online; exactly what a diabetic mum-to-be needs! Facebook and Instagram are great platforms to feel connected on a journey that can feel incredibly isolating. I am forever grateful for the positive advice amongst the group and I’m still a member today.
 
Focusing on your goals is important to help keep your sugar levels in range. I began to understand what foods would keep me in range and tried to stick to these most of the time. Breakfast consisted of eggs and vegetables for nine months. This would keep me in range and I’d start the day off feeling like a diabetic champion. Lunch or dinner on the other hand, could be quite a different story. If I indulged at lunch with a burger or fried rice, my sugar level could remain high for hours. The intense post-lunch guilt would ensure dinner was a much healthier choice! Let’s be real, naughty lunches didn’t occur everyday. I ate the same quinoa salad for lunch so many times I haven’t eaten it since I had my baby 7 months ago.
 
Last month I celebrated 21 years with diabetes – my diaversary. And let me tell you living a great life with diabetes - for 21 years - is worth celebrating!  I’m so proud of myself for rocking this condition. Having diabetes can feel like a full-time job and I work hard every minute of every day to keep my blood sugar levels in range, as do millions of other T1D’s.
 
I am so blessed to have two healthy sons (20 months apart), a supportive husband, inspire diabetics to live their best lives, write about cars, summit Kilimanjaro in 2015, travel the world, skydive (twice) and generally be a diabadass!
 
I deal with diabetes burnout by committing to mental and physical exercise. Supporting and trying to inspire others helps overcome feelings of being alone in my diabetic journey. I believe diabetes is my source of strength. And helping others feel great, be positive and know they have a friend where our common ground is T1D, is a beautiful thing.
 
Being grateful and connecting to your power within is a fantastic way to draw on your inner strength to remain positive. If I need an emotional pick me up, I exercise. Doing something physical first, kick starts a positive mindset. And it all begins with mindset. I tap in to how great I’ll feel after a yoga class and connecting with that feeling, helps get me out the door.
 
The more I choose to be happy, the happier I am. Choosing to be happy can take a little or a lot of effort. I try to let it take as little effort as possible. Focusing on what I want helps steer my brain in the right direction.
 
Go within for strength: meditate, go for a walk or do whatever exercise makes you feel happy. Seek support however you can. You don’t have to do this on your own.
 
And above all, celebrate a life well-lived, every day.

 
I’m 8 days away from giving birth!! I can’t believe it. I’m so excited. I feel like I’ve been pregnant for a long, long, long time.
 
One of the greatest things about being pregnant and diabetic is the sense of community I can find online, from the comfort of my own home. I love to meet people and have face to face interaction, but on the days when I don’t want to leave my couch, I can find “friends” online who know exactly what I’m going through and I’ve never met them. It’s truly a blessing. Whether it’s a fellow instagramer I’m stalking or a question posted on an Facebook group, someone is helping or inspiring me, just by being themselves. And that’s exactly what I aim to do. I share pictures of my life and my food and the response I’ve had fills me with joy. Having other type 1 diabetic women say that I’m inspiring them to get pregnant is the most rewarding feeling. There can be negative sentiment surrounding diabetes and pregnancy and I say DON’T LISTEN TO THE NAYSAYERS!
 
Arming yourself with information on how to have a successful pregnancy is the best thing you can do. Information and education will ease your mind - nothing beats knowing first hand that YOU CAN DO IT. You can teach those who preach negative sentiment by explaining you are perfectly capable of having a healthy pregnancy. We (diabetics) just put a whole lot more effort into every single second of every single day. I think it’s important to educate others when they are unaware of something related to diabetes. The extent to which I go into deep discussion is another blog altogether.
 
PLAN
My first piece of advice before getting pregnant is to plan (if you’re already pregnant stay tuned for the next blog). Planning to me meant eating better to achieve more stable sugar levels and getting off the roller coaster of highs and lows followed by highs and lows (you know what I mean!). It meant getting a team of professionals I trusted and felt supported me in my diabetic journey. And making the change to go on an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor. That being said it’s perfectly possible to have an amazing pregnancy on injections.
 
Every article I read before conceiving said to plan 6 months or a year before ‘trying to conceive’ (TTC, I have since learnt is the online abbreviation). Originally I thought, a year?? that seems like forever to plan! However, in the end, that’s exactly how long I took. After 18 years of injections, it was time for a life changing decision. I resisted the pump for so long because I didn’t want to look different, but the prospect of having a baby overshadowed any embarrassment I might have felt.
 
April 2015 I travelled from Dubai (where we were living) to Melbourne to get the Medtronic 640G and Elite Sensor continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I cried in my appointment - a mixture of happiness that I was finally doing it and disbelief that I actually needed this medical device. I’d spent years putting diabetes on the bottom of my priority list and with injections, I felt like I could inject, test, eat and ignore. But with an insulin pump attached to me 24 hours a day, I felt like diabetes would play a prominent role I wasn’t sure I was ready for. But I was ready. I was ready to focus on my health in a way unknown to me. I’d consistently averaged an A1C in the 7’s – possibly the average of lots of high highs and waaaay too many low lows… either way it was time to get my A1C near a 5 or a low 6 to conceive.
 
My diabetes dream team consists of a managing director, that would be me! The other team members are endocrinologist, obstetrician, dietitian, local doctor and a psychologist or counselor if and when needed.
 
SEEKING HELP IS A SIGN OF STRENGTH
We all know what we should do to be a better diabetic, but putting it into action can seem like climbing Mt Everest. That’s where professional help can kick start your journey. And if professional help isn’t viable, that’s ok. Reach out to other inspirational diabetics on Instagram, Facebook or twitter who can provide positive advice.
 
As diabetics we know a little work goes a long way, the more effort we put in the more we can manage it (easier said than done). We control what we eat, when we exercise and how we choose to live our lives. We are the leader of the team we put together. It is essential we are honest with ourselves and with our support team. They will simply work with the information we give them. One of my favourite sayings is “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” So a great start was recording what I was eating, my sugar levels, exercise and insulin doses.
 
Recording your data is a task no one wants to do. I tried writing my results on a notepad, using notes in my phone, using my memory (bad idea) and finally I settled on using an app called mySugr. Sometimes I’d wait until the end of the day and go through the data in my pump to put into the app. It was a draining and boring task so I only did it for a month. But if you just do it for at least two weeks, you’ll learn so much about your eating, the effect the carbs you eat have on your sugar levels and hopefully gleam where you can make changes. Even though I thought I was trying hard, something was still not right. I’d go too high and too low ALL the time.
 
I didn’t have much faith in dietitians due to past experience, but I just hadn’t found the right one. Ok, let’s be real. I was basing it on seeing one dietitian the year before I got pregnant and one 18 years ago when I was diagnosed! Then I met Rashi Chowdhary in Dubai. She was the angel I didn’t know I was looking for. She motivated me to prioritise eating at consistent times with similar carbohydrates for the corresponding time of day. I began to understand how my sugar levels reacted because consistency meant I could measure and see patterns with greater clarity.
 
We started with a paleo diet, which I did for two weeks and honestly I had the best sugar levels of my life. I actually thought it was impossible to stay between 4.4 and 7.7, however, it is possible. It just takes a WHOLE LOT OF WORK! Now the paleo diet only lasted me two weeks. But it changed my outlook on food and diabetes forever. Cutting out processed food (for two weeks) made me realise how much it was affecting my sugar levels. I learned how much carbohydrate in a carrot or an avocado affected me, something I never knew when it was wedged between two pieces of bread with chicken and mayo!
 
I continued to see Rashi every two weeks over a four month period. Seeing her was like therapy. She gave me great motivation to choose better foods and changed my meal plan every two weeks. We would discuss what was easy to prepare and I stuck with her meal plan most of the time (ok, maybe half the time). The greatest lesson learned was the importance of eating at approximately the same time each day and trying to limit my portion sizes!
 
Example of my eating schedule (give or take half an hour):
Breakfast between 7:30-8:30am
Snack 10am
Lunch 12-12:30pm
Snack 4pm
Dinner 7:30pm

Your food will always depend on what you like and what will fill you up. I was happy to go low carb to get really good sugar levels. Some people may get too hungry cutting out bread or pasta. But I found brown rice pasta to be amazing and a protein bread that only had 8g carb per slice and one slice was enough... when loaded with avocado, squeeze of fresh lime, cracked pepper, sliced cherry tomato and a sliced boiled egg.
 
Quick summary to planning for pregnancy:

• Start eating at consistent times and record everything (or try).
• Review your sugar levels at the end of each day and ask yourself questions (be really honest with yourself)
• If your sugar went high, did you eat too much or not give enough insulin?
• If your sugar went too low, did you eat less than you thought you would or give too much insulin?
• Did you do any exercise that day?
• Start building your team to support you
• Reach out to the diabetic online community on social media like Instagram, FB or Twitter, there’s so many people willing to help
• Trust yourself, believe in yourself and reflect on what you eat.

 
I know there are sooooo many factors that affect our sugar levels. But we have to start somewhere. You know your body better than anyone. You know what questions you need to ask yourself (write them down, all of them). I’ve had lots of highs and lows throughout this journey and the best thing you can do is speak kindly to yourself. Let yourself off the hook. Have an ice-cream on occasion or a white baguette with fries, burger meat and mayo (yes, I did that at Le Mans in France this year and it was delicious).
 
Energy flows where your attention grows. So keep at it. At 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant, I can say all the hard work is paying off.
 
(I am not a medical practitioner and the above is based on my experience only).
 

At the end of yoga class my teacher says “bow to the miracle within. Namaste.” What a  beautiful thing to say, think and act out. We all have a miracle within us. Sometimes we don’t even know it (yet), sometimes others bring it out of us and sometimes we search endlessly for it. But it’s there. Todays ultra connected world can make it hard to stop and listen to ourselves. Sometimes we seek this miracle externally, then wonder why it doesn’t appear like a light beaming down from heaven. 


I’ve made a conscious decision to find the miracle within me. Partly why you are reading this blog (and for that I thank you kindly). I believe it starts with valuing yourself. From my early teens I felt the "need" for others approval. Whether it was what I wore, the way I acted or the people I hung out with. I never stopped to value myself.. Value myself?? What's that? Says the 12-30 year old Michelle. It took some pretty hard times professionally and personally before it punched me in the face (literally) -  I need to put myself first. Otherwise that seemingly never ending cycle of negativity will keep you spiralling down. Sometimes you gotta pull your socks up and play hard ball. 


The definition of self-esteem (according to the oxford dictionary) is confidence in one’s own worth or abilities. I thought I had good self esteem, adamant that all the tickets to my show were sold out! But my actions tell a different story. I started my first full-time job in the construction industry right after my 18th birthday. To put it bluntly, you need balls. Something I learned you didn’t need to be masculine to have. I put up with so much sh*t I can’t believe I stayed there for eight and a half years. I was afraid I wasn’t good enough to do anything else (and I had a mortgage). I started studying part-time when I was 23, working towards a Bachelor of International Business. Juggling work, study and a full-time social life was a bit much to say the least. In fact, it was waaaaaaaay too much. I ended up getting alopecia and lost the hair on top of my head and a few patches above my neckline. I was devastated. It hit me harder than getting diabetes. I know it’s not the worst thing that can happen but bald patches did not make me feel good, either did the antibiotics and injections into my scalp. I was already taking 5 injections a day for my diabetes, but that seemed like nothing compared to the little scabs on my scalp. I was also prescribed the wrong antibiotics and every time I ate my heart would beat so fast all I could do was breathe deeply. Then lower the dosage to ween off them.


The doctor told me to withdraw from a couple of subjects and focus on me. She said my mind was willing to work hard, but my body was telling me something different. This should’ve been a sign back then. Thankfully, my hair grew back. And the following year I was awarded a scholarship to study overseas with my degree. It was the blessing I needed. I resigned from my job, took out a second mortgage and studied in France for 5 months. At 26, I was the oldest exchange student! My new best friend, Jaime was 25 and the rest of our friends were 19 and 20. We felt like wise old women (who still had a lot to learn). 


I thought my miracle calling would bestow itself upon me. And my passion in life would be handed to me on a silver platter. Guess they don’t serve “your lifes calling” at the local hostel, hotel, nightclub or dance festival in Amsterdam. But we tried and had a hell of a time trying.   


After 7 months in Europe, I moved to Melbourne with one suitcase and began the next chapter of my life. Sans miracle calling, all I knew was that I did not want to work in the construction industry. And what did I end up doing, I became the State Manager of a construction company. The role ticked all the boxes on a professional level, but zero in the passion department.


I poured my heart and soul into that company. I worked hard day and night. I even became a shareholder. Knowing my heart wasn't in it, drained my very being. I also suffered intense workplace harassment. After 2.5 years it was time to put myself first. I sold my shares and said goodbye. Simultaneously saying hello to my new life. 


In the months leading up to my resignation I fell in love with the man of my dreams. A southern gentleman from Alabama. I moved to Shanghai to be with him and we are now married and expecting our first baby. His passion for communication, culture, public relations and politics inspires me daily to keep searching for my true passion. But it starts within. And now I realise my responsibility for taking ownership of my miracle within.  


Self worth. What is that? Value yourself. Know your worth. Take stock of who you are and what you’ve achieved. And bow to the miracle within.

Thinking about our higher purpose and the reason why we are here, can be brought back to one simple answer, our mothers and fathers got busy and we are the fabulous result. As I embark on motherhood, I reflect on my parents journey. Mum had four kids under four by the time she was 26. At 26 I became the State Manager of a construction company in Melbourne, helping build a regional office from a three man team to 13 employees, working 15 hour days and turning over millions. It was hard yakka (that’s Aussie for hard work) being a woman in the construction industry, especially at the top, but I know where my strength and resilience comes from, my mum and dad. In hindsight Mum worked 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

When dad was 19 he immigrated from the Czech Republic to Australia with his little brother George. They faced many difficulties learning English and fitting in to Australian society. They overcame whatever was thrown at them to gain employment and build their lives in the land Down Under. Ten years later my dad met my mum. Albeit they were pen pals after a mutual friend connected them. Mum (Linda) is from the Philippines and was 19 when dad (Ludvik) started writing to her. I guess the modern day version is sending a friend request, then sending a message. Only Linda and Ludvik waited 7 days for the other to reply (not as simple as hitting refresh hey). According to mum, Ludvik was a romantic poet and they fell in love over 18 months of snail mail. Ludvik made the trek to the Philippines in February 1976 and they got married 3 weeks later. 

Fast forward a few years and they had four beautiful children! I have an older sister Linda, older brother Frank and a twin sister Anna (we were an accident.. the best accident ever!). Without any immediate family living close in Australia, we grew up relying on each other. We had no idea what it was like to hang out with cousins or grow close to our grandparents. 

Our parents raised us to respect others and put others before ourselves. Mum and dads main priority was safety, food in our belly and education. This survival technique brought me up to sometimes put myself last. And through my own fault, I put my diabetes at the very bottom of my priority list. I began my diabetic journey saying to myself I will eat whatever I want whenever I want. Years and years went by where I'd dose up on insulin, eat bags of chocolate then come crashing down later only to need to eat again!

Sometimes I didn't want to believe I had diabetes so I ignored it best I could. I didn't see a diabetes doc for 3 years. I thought it would be impossible to get good sugar levels to be a pregnant type 1 diabetic. Then a couple of years ago (at the prospect of getting pregnant) a friend said to me "imagine what you could do if you gave your body 100%" and she was right. In planning for pregnancy I ate better than I'd ever eaten in my life! I went paleo for two weeks and had PERFECT sugar levels. I remained between 4.0 and 7.7 the whole time. It was unbelievable. I proved to myself that I could do it. I can actually eat better than my limited mind believed. It took a huge mindset shift and a great dietitian.

So why did I talk about my parents? Oh yeah, strength and resilience. I do have it within. And you do too. To do whatever your heart desires. Big or small. What was the relevance of my parents love story? Well, I love telling it. And they just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.


Now the paleo thing didn't last long, BUT my attitude towards food took a 180 degree turn (disclaimer: new attitude allows for the occasional almond magnum.. And I've learnt the exact insulin dose! Winning). That strength we all have within us, is why I'm proud to be 15 weeks pregnant. And have the best A1c since I was diagnosed at 5.7!! (A1c is an average sugar level for the last three months, for a more technical explanation please search the interweb).


Oh and what was I saying about higher purpose? Well that's a whole other blog post. Stay tuned. 


What matters the most is what you feel inside. Do what's right for you. 


Be true to yourself. 

I’ve been soooo excited about this post for 3 months and the day has finally come. There is a little baby 6.6cm (2.59 inches) growing inside me. One trimester into my first pregnancy and I couldn’t be happier. Being pregnant has brought new meaning to life. My husband and I have been planning for a baby for a year. When I say planning, I mean diabetic planning. You see, love making is only one part of a successful diabetic pregnancy. There's a whole myriad of things that need to be orchestrated to create the perfect environment for mum (that would be me yay!) and baby. These “things” consist of gathering a team of health professionals that you trust, feel comfortable with and actually want to attend appointments; endocrinologist, diabetes educator, dietitian, obstetrician, gynaecologist and a psychologist if you desire. In addition to the healthcare team, getting your blood sugar “perfect” or “in range” is like touching wet paint, you know you shouldn’t (eat that donut) but you will anyway. 


When diagnosed I was never told how important I was to managing my diabetes. But that’s just it, you’re never told a lot of things in life. You have to figure things out for yourself. I figured out pretty quickly that I needed to change my insulin requirements daily. But I always thought the doctors would tell me what I needed to know regarding food. It took me 18 years and seeing a dietician (who I love) to ignite my desire for eating less processed food. And what a difference it’s made. You are responsible for educating yourself. You are the director of your life and your healthcare team. You are the CEO, the manager, the day and night supervisor. The team around you matters, like a coach to a star player. That star player is you!! 


I hope sharing my journey, I can inspire and motivate you to take charge of your lifestyle, whether you are diabetic or not. Your lifestyle encompasses so many elements ALL of which affect your blood sugar and insulin levels (diabetic or not). Fine-tuning your choices takes effort, no doubt about it. When there's only vegetables and meat in the fridge and it takes effort to prepare it and all you wanna do is order takeaway, it takes strength to change your habits (clearly I am talking from my own experience). But when there’s a baby inside you, the decision is already made, you muster up the energy, put your Jaime Oliver hat on, and start cooking.


Diabetes is sooooo complicated and can lead to critical self judgement, guilt, blame and regret.. after every time you eat. Think about how many times you eat a day and multiply that by constantly feeling like you just can’t get it right. Then you have a high or low blood sugar as evidence. Exhibit A: the glucose meter or monitor. However I’ve learned by making healthier food choices I’ve made things a little easier for myself. In fact, a lot easier for myself. 


On the flip side, diabetes has gently and forcefully pushed me to learn about carbohydrates and its serious effects on blood sugar levels. Hence, I think very carefully before eating white bread.. or shoving hot, delicious, crispy fries down my throat. Mmmmmm fries. Allow me to digress, a Shake Shack burger is one of my guilty but oh-so-worth it pleasures. Sorry, that’s a double Shake Shack burger. I haven’t eaten one my entire pregnancy (ok, that’s only 3 months, well 13 weeks). Eating healthy involves a lot of work.. but it’s worth it. Rest assured as soon as bubs is born, and I’m in the clear, I will have champagne and Shake Shack (I’m reassuring myself).


You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Recording what you eat and checking your sugar more often or using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is the first step in being honest with yourself. Then you can  moderate or eliminate certain foods to achieve better results. Focus on the good things, congratulate yourself and be mindful when eating (as much as possible). I still eat soooo quickly sometimes and then hope no one was watching me in a restaurant. Like no one. And if they did, I hope they we’re thinking, wow, she eats like me. 


It's an incredible journey and I'll keep you updated the whole way.

I've always believed the happier I am, the happier I'll be. Since I was diagnosed with diabetes I chose to be strong. Positive mind. Positive attitude. Positive body. On the 11th February 1998 the nurse in the emergency room gave my first insulin injection in my thigh. And I did every single one from that moment on. I'm still proud, obviously. I've been the same height since I was 14, 173cm (5'8") tall. I weighed 50kg (110 pounds), but not for long. 


I had diabetes for at least two months before I was diagnosed. I remember drinking about 10 litres of fluid per day, anything I could get my hands on. I was just sooooo thirsty. My regular size drink soon super-sized to a 2 litre juice or soda.. the worst things I could possibly go for, but how was I to know? I had to pee every half an hour. Before bed I’d slam down a 2L Coke and keep peeing until 2 or 3am. With minimal sleep, I’d go to school. It was like ground hog day. 


Coming home, the train tracks always looked blurry - I’m short sighted. But one day the train lines were so clear, I could see the parallel lines it was like a miracle. Almost like my un-diagnosed diabetes cleared up for a moment. Then one day it all took a turn for the worst.


My dad took me to McDonalds (in Australia we call it Maccas) for breaka (Aussie for breakfast). I ordered the pancakes with plenty of sugary goop on top, only to find myself vomiting out the car on the way home.. we went to my doctor and I was given medication to stop me vomiting - end of story?!.. not so fast..


I told my god mother the things that were happening to me and she suggested that I could be diabetic. I checked out Encarta* on our trusty family computer and looked up diabetes. Sure enough, I had every symptom on the list: excessive thirst, frequent urination, loss of appetite, loss of weight, blurred vision, vomiting. These symptoms were initially overlooked by my doctor!  *For the younger generation, Encarta was an encyclopaedia on a CD that did not require the internet!


I’ll never forget the moment mum and I went to our local doctor, my normal doc wasn’t there that day so some random doc took my blood sugar level, and changed my life forever. My blood sugar was 28mmol/L (505 mg/dl). She said go straight to the emergency room at Flinders Hospital (same place I was born) and get admitted for type 1 diabetes.


At first I had no idea what diabetes was, all I knew was that I had my appetite back and wanted to eat eat eat!!! I was the girl in ward 4 with the sign above her bed "diabetic." When the nurses came through with the food trolley, they knew I needed breakfast, lunch or dinner to feed four people. In addition to my snacks! I just knew, inject then eat, inject then eat. And smile. I would literally eat four sandwiches for lunch and still want more.. Smile at the nurses and the snacks were in abundance. I put on 10kg (22 pounds) in 7 days. 


It was a whirlwind week. Everyone kept telling me it could be worse. And I was fully aware of that fact. My positive attitude helped me make sure I never took for granted just how lucky I am to be graced with diabetes.. something that makes me stronger every single day. On discharge from hospital, I felt like a (very) mini expert on type 1 diabetes and was left in charge of my new condition/life/lifestyle. Left in charge?? All right, I'm gonna take this thing (whatever I wanted to label it) and not let it stop me doing anything! 


Smiling can lift you out of even the crappiest of moods. So when the tough was going, and the going got tough, I would always hold my head up high, take a deep breath and smile. Now this can take effort.. A lot of effort some times. But the more I don't sweat the small stuff, the more the small stuff doesn't sweat. 


Smile from the inside. It will transcend you to an overall positive feeling and help you smile externally. Then others will smile back at you. I love how smiles are contagious. I make a concerted effort to smile at others.


Keep smiling!

​Birthday week is always an exciting time for me… well, for us. I’m so lucky to be a twin and share my birthday. Hang on, sharing hasn’t always been a strong point growing up. We fought big time over silly things like who got the bottom bunk bed (we were both too lazy to climb to the top each night), whose teen poster got majority of the wall space and who got to play their favourite music in our cassette player!! 

Twin “personal space” is sugar coated with a warm fuzzy feeling knowing you shared a womb, so you WILL share everything for the rest of your life. Especially her wardrobe and shoes… but it works both ways.. good thing we have same same but different fashion styles. That same same but different twin thing has worked to our advantage more so than not. Although, when people find out I’m type 1 diabetic, the first thing they ask is, is your twin diabetic? No she is not.. and fortunately that’s one of our differences. Thank goodness I’m the one who got this. I believe part of my mission is to share my story and inspire everyone to love themselves more (put your oxygen mask on before helping others). Then use that love to spread love. 

Anna (my twin) and I love birthdays!! We love anyone and everyone’s birthday! Every year we have a theme and love to get dressed up. This year we’re having a birthday brunch. The dress code is to wear white to ring in summer. Living in Dubai we finally get to celebrate when the sun is shining (or more like an outdoor oven)! Growing up in Australia we were winter babies where the weather was damp, but our spirits were full of sunshine each birthday. Last year we had a Karaoke Party, our 30th we had a red carpet theme and for our 29th we had an alter ego party… naturally we dressed up as Miss Universe.

Every birthday it’s nice to reflect on how far I’ve come, I don’t do it enough. I want to take this moment to ask you, my dear reader, to congratulate yourself for how far you’ve come in life. For all that you’ve achieved, whether externally recognised or not, you know how hard you’ve worked and you deserve a little self praise. Literally pat yourself on the back! Whether you have a twin or not, you always have a best friend in yourself. 

Marinate your thoughts in positivity and simplify what it means to be happy. The rest will follow.

Every year on the 11th February I love to be surrounded by my family and friends. I call it my “Celebration of Life Day.” It is the day that 18 years ago I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. A day I’ll never forget. I was told by the doctor do not pass go, do not go home to get clothes, go straight to emergency at the hospital. Which I did, with mum by my side. I was 14 and mature, yet vulnerable with no idea what diabetes was. I thought it was just something where you ate too much sugar or not enough… how wrong I was.. IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE! 

Type 1 diabetes is where your pancreas decides to go to sleep… forever.. and basically the holy juice (insulin) can’t convert the sugar we eat into energy, so us diabetics need to inject it or pump it in to our glorious bodies! It essentially makes us more awesome (than we were before), and a term we love to use, a diabadass! 

So what’s this about balance? Well, imagine how hard it is to walk a tight rope. Now imagine trying to eat while walking a tight rope. That’s us. EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF EVERY SINGLE DAY. We don’t even get a break from the circus. There’s no end to this tight rope (for now). We just hold our head up high and literally become masters at multitasking. Like when you’re talking to me at the dinner table (or anywhere I’m about to shove food in my mouth), I’m literally:

• counting the carbohydrates on my plate to the gram (professional guess-timating)
• figuring out the amount of insulin needed for the carb
• remembering when I last ate
• figuring out if there’s any active insulin in my body
• thinking when I’m next going to eat (to further calculate the dosage)
• factoring in if I’ve done any exercise (as this will affect my dosage)
• AND THINKING AM I ONLY GOING TO EAT WHAT’S ON MY PLATE?
• Will I go for seconds? or thirds? (I love to eat you know) 

They are only a few factors that can affect blood sugar. Stress, sickness, altitude, intensity of exercise, duration of exercise, blah blah blah… but the sad truth is, it’s not just blah blah for us.. that stuff matters! We are diabetic mathematicians constantly calculating carbs, insulin and unknowns! 

Every single day I am thankful that we (us diabetics) can manage this. Even though I get it wrong all the time and eat too much, or give too much insulin.. The more positive I am, the more positive I'll be. We can all learn from this. 

So when it comes to my diaversary, hell yeah I wanna celebrate. This gift of life we’ve been given, we need to grab it by the you know what and sing from the mountain tops!! We must live, laugh and love our way through it. We are lucky we live in an age where medical and technological advancements are exactly where they are. Not to forget this great thing called the interwebby where we can connect and “socialise” with likeminded souls half way across the globe! 

So celebrate life, celebrate your gifts, celebrate yourself and those around you. Fill your days with positivity.