Do you celebrate a diaversary?
We all have a diagnosis day. It is a day that would be tough to forget, but the question is, how should the day be recognized?
Within the last couple of years, the term “diaversary” has been embraced as an anniversary/birthday of sorts, acknowledging the day we were told we had type 1 diabetes. It’s true—being diagnosed with a disease of any kind is not typically something one would consider worth celebrating, but it was, nevertheless, a day that altered our lives drastically. Does that not deserve to be recognized? There may not be a clear answer for this.
Many of us feel that each year that passes while managing type 1 diabetes is an accomplishment—and it is. Whether you ran a marathon this last year, finished school, got married, gave birth, finished your novel, or became a better version of yourself in some small way, we do all of this with type 1 not-so-subtly peering over our shoulders. As the term “diaversary” becomes more widely used, more and more of us are choosing to acknowledge the day in our own unique ways!
So, we asked all of you on the Beyond Type 1 app—HOW, WHY—and DO you celebrate your diaversary?
Parties and gifts
“Ethan’s is February 12, we usually go to dinner and have ice cream. This year, we’re celebrating with a party. 3 years of ass kicking and no sleep for us all! We’ll be popping corks over here! I’ll probably surprise Ethan with a little gift as well as his brother for being such a good helper and keeping his eye out for his bro 🙂 “—Christine V.
“This year will mark my 20th so I am having a party! I have joked ever since I was a kid that I want a big cake in the shape of a pump. This year, I am going to make it happen!”—Kristen R.
“I have been diagnosed for 11 years and my family usually cooks me what I want for dinner, and one year for my diaversary they gave me a scarf.”—Elena S.
“This will be my son’s first diaversary. We’re combining it with my other son’s first birthday, since they’re a week and a half apart. So a party, cupcakes and then to the trampoline park.”—Amy P.
“My husband bought me diamond earrings for my 20th anniversary. I liked having diabetes for the first time that year.”—Kimberly Z.
“My friends and I had a “Dirty Thirty Diaversary” party for my 30th. Several of my friends came out and we basically had a birthday party—cake, gifts, some drinks and did whatever I wanted to do.” —Cassie M.
Advocate
“I’ll be celebrating in five days by telling everyone in school!!”—Megan W.
“I wear a diabetes shirt, quietly acknowledge it all day, and if the opportunity presents itself I will eat cake. Also this year I bought myself a Fitbit—I figured I’d earned something new and exciting!”—Maryna E.
Go on a trip
“I hit 30 this summer! I think a trip to somewhere exotic is needed!!!! Bali, anyone?! 😉 “—Jen H.
Show those carbs who’s boss!
“Mine was on Thanksgiving this year so I got to eat plenty of food!”—Carly M.
“I celebrate all day long. I sleep in late & have a bagel with cream cheese & lox. Lunch will be a slice of pizza. Dinner well that depends on how many of us are home and what’s in the freezer. I’ll have a shot of tequila & gooey chocolate anything!!”—Lori W.
“Eating sushi in a great restaurant! … And I eat Nutella.”—Allegra D.
“My mother would make my fav diabetic dinner. Liver and onions with bacon and broccoli. And jello! Good woman. I went and bought ice cream and a 44 oz 5 shot iced vanilla toffee latte. Evil, bad, you know it. I’m not gonna live forever —CELEBRATE!”—Christine P.
Do something therapeutic
“Run around in circles. Because I am always boorrreeeddd. Or write: I HATE DIABETES 100 times.”—Anya A.
“For her first diaversary, Lauren and I had a spa day. We both got pedicures and she got her nails done while I got my hair done. Then I took her shopping for a couple new outfits.”—Katie L.
“I journal the ups and downs of the year and hopes for the next. My diaversary is more of a reflective day not so much celebration.”—Violet H.
Beat the odds
“I try to do something every year I was told I can’t or never will be able to….eating, drinking, physical activity, etc. Whatever you want really, because as you’ll learn, you CAN do everything, you just need to learn how to do it with diabetes!”—madamimadam
WHY we celebrate
“(My family and I) don’t celebrate the diagnosis, we celebrate overcoming the challenges and surviving another year when sometimes it just seems easier to give up—to skip boluses, not test and eat all. the. carbs.”—Elizabeth J
“I just like marking another year of kicking diabetes’ ass!”—Serafina Zeringo
“In this day I just feel awesome to be different than people around me. In this day I avoid eating anything sweet, I just play the music and start to dance!”—Aya W.
“My parents and I celebrate me surviving and thriving as a healthy teenager. I was diagnosed 14 years ago. I always get a cupcake.”—Claire C.
“I would be celebrating it for another year of frustration and success, another year survived, another year of dealing with all the hardships that come my way and trying my hardest to conquer every high and low. Wow, that got a little emotional.”—KatTheType1
“I celebrated this past year because it was really a huge mile stone and I looked back on how I had evolved, struggled and survived the past year and all the work I did to do just that, survive.”—Katherine Q.
