Dear 16-year-old-me. Write a letter to yourself at age 16. What would you tell yourself? What would you make your younger self aware of?

Dear Amy,

It’s going to get better. You’ve had diabetes for 2 years now and the things that matter so much right now (fitting in, being popular, pretty, skinny, smart, having a boyfriend and enough money to keep up with your friends and most of all, not having to deal with high and low blood sugars, counting carbs, doing shots and testing your blood sugar) will matter less when you are an adult. You will get married, have children and get paid to write! You will come out of the dark hole of diabetes denial and slowly, slowly, accept this illness. After many years of feeling powerless to and victimized by diabetes, you will begin to see how it has made you strong.

Hang in there Amy. There won’t be a cure in 10 years like you were promised, but there will be a huge support group of people who will inspire you to live well with diabetes. I promise that you won’t always feel alone and in fact, your loneliness will lead to a book (The Smart Woman’s Guide to Diabetes) that will help other women feel less alone.