I spend a lot of time thinking about if I will ever have complications from my diabetes. The very thought of diabetes problems scares the crap out of me. My determination to ward of complications has a direct correlation with how I control my sugars on a daily basis. In other words, every time I treat a low or a high, thoughts of amputations or blindness are running through my head. Those fears are some BIG MOTIVATORS. I don't want to come across as the guy who just sits around and waits for something bad to happen. I am not the type of person who just mopes around hopelessly or just sits around thinking of nothing else but diabetes issues. I try to stay positive most of the time. My glass is usually "half full" rarely "half empty."

But even as positive thinker, it is hard not to wonder about the future and what it might hold. I have always said that getting diabetes has made me the type of person that I am today. Getting my life flipped upside down, with the unexpected childhood diagnosis, has changed me into a person who is always trying to plan for the unanticipated. I can't even leave the house without a checklist. I am always thinking ahead, constantly wondering what I might need with me. It is my way of going through life without ever wanting to get "shocked" again. Living your life in fear is a tiring way to live. One of my newest sayings or slogans that I try to live by is, "Just keep on moving forward. It is what it is". If I can truly be happy with whatever is thrown at me, than I can never get down. I can never be surprised with what it is that I have to face in the future. I think that this is the point, in many people's lives, when people find religion. When people face "problems" they can say no matter what happens, God is with them or that God made it to be that way. Well, then this is me finding my religion. This is my spirituality shining through. "It is what it is because God made it this way". To go through life like that is a lot less tiring than to live in fear.

I know deep in my heart and soul, that whatever life has to throw at me, I can just look at it, smile and take a deep breath and relax, because there is no reason to get upset or to get down, "It is what it is ... just keep moving forward."

-Andy