It’s Day Two of the Sixth Annual Diabetes Blog Week. Before I jump into today’s topic, I wanted to take a moment to thank Scott Benner for hosting me on the Juicebox Podcast. I had a great time chatting with Scott. If you’d like to have a listen, you can find the episode here.Okay, on with #DBlogWeek. Today’s topic is Keep it to Yourself. Many of us share lots of aspects of our diabetes lives online for the world to see. What are some of the aspects of diabetes that you choose to keep private from the internet? Or from your family and friends? Why is it important to keep it to yourself? (This is not an attempt to get you out of your comfort zone. There is no need to elaborate or tell personal stories related to these aspects. Simply let us know what kinds of stories we will never hear you tell, and why you won't tell them.) (Thank you Scott E of Rolling in the D for this topic.)
I'm pretty much an open book when blogging about anything diabetes related. I’ll share my triumphs and my struggles, the things that work for me and the things I need to improve, and even some fairly personal stuff that has to do with diabetes. If something doesn’t have a diabetes connection at all, I’m probably not likely to share it because this is a diabetes blog, right? And anyway, diabetes seeps its way into an awfully big chunk of our lives, doesn’t it?
There is, however, one diabetes story I haven’t written about in detail. And that is the Glucagon story. I did write a tiny bit about the incident but at the time I didn’t feel up to rehashing all of the details.
Honestly, even though it’s now almost two years later, I still can’t bring myself to write about it. I’ve told the story to friends in person. I carry guilt over what happened that night. Part of me feels like I should share so others can learn from the mistakes I made. But overall, I just don’t want to. And I think maybe I never will. And I’m trying to decide if that’s okay, or if it’s a blogging fail.
Here are more Keep it to Yourself - Tuesday 5/12 posts.
What is Diabetes Blog Week? Click here for an explanation and to sign up. You can also check out a list of participants over here.
When it comes to a personal blog, there is no such thing as a blogging fail. You make the rules, you make the content, you set the parameters. There is no editor-boss breathing down your neck to get your column submitted in time.
ReplyDeleteWhen you stop looking at the blog as something you do voluntarily for yourself, and start looking at it as an obligation or commitment, the content becomes stale and the lack of passion becomes apparent.
It's your blog. Your rules. (Other than the ethical ones, there are) no boundaries.
In no way, shape or form is you not disclosing all the details of your glucagon story a blogging fail. It is your life and your blog and your story. You get to tell it how you want.
ReplyDeleteI hope it never gets to a point where DOC bloggers feel like full disclosure is mandatory - we all started reading and writing these things to feel less alone, but demanding from people what many don't get or demand of themselves is unfair and unreasonable. We all have to live our lives in the world and at the end of the day, it's your story to tell the way you prefer. I have a great deal of respect for privacy.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, not blogging about it is NOT a fail. You shared what you wanted. What you wrote in that blog post hit home to me (and I'd guess a lot of others as well). I could perfectly understand and sense those frightening moments that are impossible to re-live and put into words. You rock!
ReplyDeleteThere are some things to painful the first time to even think about revisiting. That's not a fail that's common sense for your emotions. You wouldn't drink something harmful to your stomach so why think about things harmful to you emotions?
ReplyDeleteIf you were writing a TV show, I would call this post a "teaser" because of course everything is always out there. In terms of your life and your blog, of course you shouldn't share what you don't want to share and no one would expect you to. I think that we all walk a tightrope between openness and privacy.
ReplyDeleteI agree that you should do whatever feels right, and most importantly when it feels right and if that time is never, so be it. I add that, I really flip-flopped with my own post today and then figured if I just typed it, I could do what I've done before and save it to drafts. I think it kind of helped me since it's been on my mind and I just hadn't managed to write the post. Today I did it b/c of DBlogWeek. So although I'm not by any means pushing you either way (totally separate subject matters, I know), for me, it felt kind of good to get it out. So thank you Karen. I admire you tremendously for a zillion reasons and DBlogWeek is right there on the list! xo
ReplyDeleteI remember that story. And if I were you, I don't know if I could go back and write about it again either. Some things are better left alone for a while, until we can't bring ourselves to not write about it, or until it doesn't bother us anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely OK not to share (although as Laddie said, it's a little bit of a teaser) and I'm so sorry it happened!
ReplyDeleteNot a blogging fail. Never a blogging fail.
ReplyDeleteI know some posts are really hard to write, and I'm constantly inspired by you and other members of the DOC that manage to put pen to paper about the hard things at all (or perhaps in this case finger to keyboard?). Writing even this much is very brave, good on you :)
There are things I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole on my blog. You are brave for sharing something so close to your heart <3 keep rocking it
ReplyDeleteMy heart hurts about this. You share so much and whatever you feel you would rather not blog about, don't. It is all good! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else - it is NOT a blogging fail. You share a lot and you help so many people with the stuff that you do. You have every right to hold something back that you not comfortable talking about.
ReplyDeleteYou know what's great about this online community? We support you for not sharing and if you ever do, you'll be supported then as well. Brave writing what you did! Xo
ReplyDeleteGlucagon - the magical, mystical, break in case of emergency box. I don't think I've ever had one in my possession. I'm really glad you had one when you needed it and your husband knew how to use it. I need to do a better job of educating mine.
ReplyDelete