Changes

"Pretty soon now you're gonna get older." 

Bowie was right, of course. We all get old(er) and with the passing of time there are ch, ch, ch, ch, changes to face... maybe even strange ones! I've reached a juncture in my life when changes are happening rapidly. Today, I thought I'd write about a few of those and why change isn't to be feared. 

I've written about many changes that relate to my Type 1 Diabetes over the last four or five years. From the unnecessary fights to access technology to the arrival of a new family member, Billy - my Cocker Spaniel, and everything in between. It's surprising just how many day-to-day things can impact diabetes management, and that's just life. Life with diabetes, at least. Perhaps life events, the changes, are a part of the extra 180 decisions that we diabetics must make each day. The adjustments we make to stay well in the short and long terms are probably done without much thought for the "seasoned diabetic." I suspect those who have joined the club relatively recently will be acutely aware of the changes they must make to stay on the right side of the daisies. 

So, what's changing? Firstly, some background; A couple of years ago, I became very involved with a lot of different diabetes roles. It was great. I even applied for a position at JDRF UK because I loved it so much. It was (and still is to some extent) a positive way to work - paid or voluntarily. During the Covid lockdown years, I spoke at and helped out with webinars, I spoke about diabetes on BBC radio, and focused a lot of time and energy on helping GBDoc. Once we were set free of our homes, I spoke at and attended conferences, I helped to create and attend get-togethers, I launched a T-shirt store to support a children's diabetes charity in South East Asia - eventually joining their brilliant advisory group. I got to know the inspirational Jerry Gore who spoke with me on many occasions about the issues in Ukraine, resulting in every ad' penny and "Buy Me a Coffee" penny being donated to MSF. Six weeks of my life was spent supporting Jerry on a daily basis via several social media accounts (the adding of info and updates) - I'm going to talk about Jerry in more detail on another blog. He really is a great human...

...this is becoming a "look at what I've done" paragraph. I'll stop there. The point is to highlight just how easy it is to become "entrenched" into diabetes related work. I know from conversations with many of you that your goal is to work in diabetes. That's admirable, it really is. Some of you have created community spaces with that in mind and that deserves much credit. Running a community is a thankless task for the majority of the time. The rewards can be fantastic, however. 

What's changing for me in all of the above? An old friend of mine from Vilnius dropped me a message in mid-2023. He wanted some help to complete his new website and for somebody with "a gift at marketing through written words" to polish the published pages. I spent the late summer of 2023 getting his site ready. Job done. Seemingly, a good job! A very large Fintech firm bought his site, around 8 months later. My friend introduced me to them on a very informal basis. What followed was an interview. That went well. Two example tasks arrived. I completed the tasks over an afternoon. That went well. A second interview with two senior members of staff... yeah, you're getting the gist by now - That went well. Salary expectations? (went well) and a month later; one final video call. "We're very impressed by you. You have the job." So, that went well. 

The job means that I must hang up my boots in a few roles. My usual self employed role will now cease, and that's great because I'd grown tired of that job after 12 years of shoulder breaking work. You may have already read that I'm closing the T-shirt store. I will no longer be accepting diabetes mentees. I will no longer be attending mid-week events or conferences, although I hope The Spice Girls will allow me to have lunch with them from time to time. I'll be reducing my social media time. I will no longer have enough time to create videos, especially the Dad Chats to... interviews. I'm sad about most of those things because they are so fulfilling, yet the changes are necessary to allow for a sensible work-life balance.

Some things will remain! I will continue to be a voice for people who need access to technology and medicine for their diabetes. I will continue to admin' the Men's T1D Support Group. I will always try to amplify the work of Action4Diabetes and, so long as Jerry and Charlie want me, I'll remain a part of the Type 1 Advisory Group. 

Changes aren't always something to be fearful of. Grasp the exciting opportunities when they're presented to you and, as I've mentioned previously, we're only here once. Do good things with good people. 

Of course, the blog will still be updated from time to time!

My Buy Me a Coffee page will soon be updated. From June 30 2024, all coffee donations will be forwarded to Action4Diabetes. 

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As A Man...

...talking about Diabetes and everything related to it has become easier for me, since embracing the condition, but it's not easy and after checking some stats I'm pretty sure that I'm not in the minority.

Before we get into full-swing, thank you very much if you've donated a coffee or been generous in your tapping of ads on my blog and vlog. As you might know, all the funds generated from that are donated to MSF - who do incredible work in places like Ukraine. See the bottom of this blog post for how you can help.

That's my beardy mouth, above. It's the end of the Easter weekend and I've adopted a relaxed approach to shaving. It was also an easy way to represent the mouth of a man, what with me being male and owning a mouth. Let's not focus too much on the photo! Instead, I've been considering how to word a blog post in regards to men's Diabetes - specifically how we're largely crap at talking about it.

What comes with a moderately popular social media account is the ability to analyse stats on a moderately accurate level. The bigger the number, the more accurate the data and all that so, moderate is probably about right when it comes to my socials. Cool, well... I think so! I know some aren't interested in numbers and their own voice is what is most important when it comes to Tweets and the like. I think numbers, analytics, offer a great insight into what's going on, what people are interested in, maybe even what's going wrong.

I've long suspected that my engagement on Twitter has been tilted towards women. I've never been entirely comfortable with that as there are predatory men who may have a similar tilt. I've spoken about it and openly questioned why male to male engagement in regards to Diabetes is less common - for me, at least! I certainly don't go out of my way to avoid men or to tweet/post replies to females more than males. Yet, my engagement is weighted towards women. I know that after checking the analytics of various involvements and by manually going through my own data since the turn of 2022. The figures? 68% of my engagement is with women. Yet, I know that my socials in regards to follows and friends are split very evenly - almost 50/50 as best as I can tell, sex isn't always apparent after all.

Mrs Dad has quipped; "It's because you're funny and charming and they all love you". I disagree, I'm not that funny. 

More seriously, others have noted that women are more open in regards to their health and talking about it, and that a man being "as open as they are" feels safe. That may be true, at least in part, women do seem to be happy to talk about their Diabetes with anybody. If I'm as open as the women within the Diabetes communities is debatable. Personally, I think not.

So, that's me and I'm not happy with that situation. I'm very much about equality, true equality, the lifting up of the down-trodden but not the knocking down of those on a higher perch - We should all be on that lofty footing. With that in mind, I've decided to make a bigger effort in finding and talking to more men within the online communities, to encourage their engagement and to lift them up to the high standards set by women. Why? Because talking about my Diabetes has brought huge improvements into my life, it has allowed me to learn from others, to form friendships, to have a large peer support network inside my phone which means I can ask for an answer to any Diabetes question and feel confident of being given it. Why wouldn't you want that in your life, men? 

Is it because you fear looking weak? Do you somehow feel less of a man, less in control, less attractive by opening up about your health when it's troubling you? That nonsense is what has put many of us in the ground too soon, for... forever? And now we have the Internet! You can be anonymous, pretty much and post a tweet without any fear. Or you can go a step further, grab a hold of your balls, tell the world who you are and what your issues are. Own it and be the inspiration for the next generation to talk openly about their health. 

I'm not ending this post with the standard "My DMs are open". That's fine if that's your thing but it'll change nothing. Seriously, how many of you have tweeted such a thing and been inundated with messages? Change comes through being active. So, if you are active on socials and notice an ignored person (male or otherwise, probably male) then reach out to them and start a conversation. You could help with something which is really simple for you but result in a dramatic improvement in their well being. Sometimes, a person just needs to know someone is listening. It can be that easy.

As you might have seen, a conflict has broken out in Ukraine as Russia has invaded that country. The scenes on TV and on social media are horrifying. What can we do? Well, I don't think there is a wrong way to help if you donate to charities who are active in helping the people of Ukraine. I support many charities but one which has always had my heart is MSF. Medecins Sans Frontieres translates as Doctors Without Borders. When it comes to the health of others in disaster areas, war zones and the like then I think we all have a duty to do what we can to help and help those who directly help! such as MSF. With that in mind, all donations to me via Buy Me a Coffee and all the pennies generated through the ads dotted around my pages will be donated to MSF. I will make up the difference for the fees taken by PayPal and Buy Me a Coffee. That will run until further notice, no time frames and possibly until Ukraine is a free country again. Thank you for reading my blog. 

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