Perspective

I've been considering writing this blog for several days. It's not that I've been hugely busy. Is anybody? The delay has been caused by my mixed feelings and differing perspectives being offered, albeit unwittingly by users on social media and friends & family.

I couldn't think of a better title for the blog. "Perspective" seems about right.

Most of you will know me well enough to know that I have a visual impairment. The cause was my Type 1 Diabetes (surprise). The details of which aren't really important for this blog. If you want to know more about it then YouTube me and you can watch me talk about it in detail. This blog isn't about the VI. It's about the perspective having a VI, the treatments and the recovery gave me.

A lot of you might agree, losing your sight or partially losing your sight is a terrifying prospect. I've read some of your tweets to that extent and I get it. Of course I get it. I had to live with that fear for many months and then subsequently lived with almost complete sight loss for many more months! The feeling of losing independence, being unable to see the faces of loved ones, being unable to see and experience everything good in the world. Being a father with two young children and the prospect of missing their growth and the joy of their experiences. It leaves you in a very dark place... if you'll pardon the pun!

I'm 8 years after my last significant eye surgery, today. The sun has disappeared and it is dull and cold here in middle England. And I love it. I've loved a part of every single day since I was discharged. In fact! since I began to regain some visual clarity.

The experience of eye complications changed my perspective on life. I'm grateful for so much more now.

So, here we are still in lockdown. We're all distancing, some are shielding. There is no end in sight and many are getting a little "cranky". Little things can become huge problems when stress levels are high and it's easy to lose perspective. There's that word again! I don't want to invalidate anyones woes. We're all different and one persons "Meh" is another persons "OMFG!" I do feel that sometimes it's important to take a minute to breathe, though. To not rush to the Internet over every problem which might be amplified in your head by the current pandemic crisis.

I can't tell you how to gain perspective and keep calm and dignified. I do say this, with complete conviction - It will get better. You will get more freedom again, schools will reopen, businesses will reopen, you will see your friends, you'll see your family. You'll be back to "normal" even if "normal" is a bit different than before. The sun will come out tomorrow!... Sorry, I'll stop. It will happen but it will take some time. Be patient. Breathe. You'll be rewarded.

Perhaps you'll be rewarded with a shiny new perspective too.

Thank you so much for reading this blog. I do appreciate your visit and your support. As you might know, I LOVE COFFEE! So I've teamed up with a thing called Buy Me A Coffee. If you enjoy my content and appreciate the time it takes to create such things then you can buy me a coffee! If you leave your Twitter @ name when you buy me a coffee, I will personally thank you. If you'd rather be anonymous then that's totally cool. Thanks for the caffeine!

BUY DIABETIC DAD A COFFEE HERE

But you hate blogs!

I hate blogs.

Kind of. I don't HATE blogs. Let me explain...

... Once upon a time, in a different life, part of my job was to write a blog. It was terrible. I cringe at the thought of those posts, the comments and the weekly update. That happened for around 2 years and was probably the worst aspect of that job. I know, right!?

"Writing a blog was the worst thing you had to do for your job!? Poor you!"

How I suffered! I suppose my dislike stemmed from the tedium of it. The content feeding to Google to bring search traffic to the company I was working for. The necessity to "work in" certain keywords and subjects.

I've probably judged blogs harshly because of that job. The diabetes world has SO MANY BLOGS because we've all got views and lots to say. I've started to read more blogs surrounding diabetes and, to my surprise I have enjoyed a good number of them. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a blog lover now. There are still some horrendous blogs and some which are nothing but vehicles for self promotion. One or two are just prolonged sub-tweets but there are some great ones which talk about important subjects and raise thought provoking issues.

So, here I am. Writing a bloody blog. Let's get important and thought provoking.

*Rolls up sleeves*

I've got writer's block already.

Perhaps I should just continue to record vlogs and podcasts instead? I've started now! I'll crack on.

We're living in strange times. You don't need me to tell you that. Diabetes makes us a bit more vulnerable to Covid-19 than most. It's frightening. I think the majority of us must have had moments of fear in the last month or so. I know some of you have had Covid-19 and, thankfully, are recovering albeit slowly. It sounds and reads like a terrible illness.

So, what can we do? We're all being sensible and distancing. Many of you are no longer at your place of work. For the most part, we're all at home and there is only so much TV you can watch. The answer is different for everybody. Your diabetes may vary (YDMV) gets thrown around a lot and rightly so. Your lockdown may vary, too.

Surprisingly! some of you may exclaim, I've never been to prison. I feel this is a little taster of what life in The Big House might be like.  Yes, we can leave the house if necessary. Yes, it's probably a bit easier to whip up a plate of cheesy chips at home. But there are restrictions on where we can go and who we see. It is being enforced by authorities. It's not prison but it is a bit... prisony?

I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm happy to be under lockdown for as long as it takes. I might be classed as one of the vulnerable because of Type 1 Diabetes but I have friends and family who are arguably more vulnerable. Some have been told to shield completely for 12 weeks. That's 3 months of going nowhere. Definitely a bit prisony.

We're told that this will end. I believe that. I'm certain of it. When it does end, I fear the next big issue will be a huge surge in mental illnesses. I've had a little taste of PTSD and anxiety, before. It's horrible. I feel sorry for those coping with MH problems and I'm very worried for the HCPs, seeing mass death on a daily basis. There must be a strong focus on their support, once this is over. A support as strong as our NHS is getting from the general public right now.

We also need to take care of our friends and families. Of course we do. You might be making more calls to them, sending more messages, annoying them with funny videos or tagging them to your social media wafflings. Don't stop. Let's bring positives from this awful situation and carry on with that as part of our new, post-pandemic world.

These are dark times for many. An historic time for all the wrong reasons. But, as sure as day follows night we will come out of the other side. I hope as better people. We owe it to the people lost and the HCPs who try to save us.