For a long time I've been doubting myself in what I've achieved in life.
I've just started out in my career after years of uncertainty and reluctance to settle down in one place for too long. I'm not married, I don't have any children and don't own a house. I have very little commitment in my life... apart from helping people with diabetes. Since I was young I've seen marriage, children and money as markers of success, markers that would mean I had achieved something substantial - something to be proud of. For a long time I felt that I'd achieved nothing.
Two weeks ago, a friend from twitter sent me a blog. The blog was about a man who was walking along a beach after a storm - the beach was littered with starfish that would soon be dried up by the sun. The man saw a young boy who was also walking along the beach and was picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the sea. The man said to the boy that he would not be able to make a difference as there were thousands of starfish scattered along the beach. The boy picked up another starfish, threw it back into the sea and replied that he had made a difference to that one.
In the past few months I've been talking on and offline to a number of people who have been newly diagnosed with diabetes - people who are afraid, confused, angry and scared. One by one I think (and hope) that I've slowly helped to make a positive difference, even if it's only the smallest difference.
If I can change a small part of one persons world then surely that's an achievement... It's taken me a while to realise that, actually, I have achieved things that many people haven't and combined with so many others that do the same every day we are constantly changing people's worlds.
So let's keep changing the world, one starfish at a time.
Ninjabetic x
This blog was written for Diabetes Blog Week - You can find more information about this and the blog topics here.
Read the full Starfish story: One step towards changing the world, here.