By this time there have been many a blog or social media post on "what it’s really like to live with (insert chronic disease here)." By no means do I think this is a bad thing.

However, as much as I appreciate a lot of these entries and posts that call attention to chronic illnesses that often get swept under the rug, or ones that carry a particularly heavy amount of misconceptions, I think there also needs to be a movement towards increasing the importance of treating people with chronic illnesses just as you would treat those without—and to encourage those with chronic illnesses to make their lives about more than just their illness.

I have type 1 diabetes, and I’m not going to sugarcoat the fact that 3 a.m. low blood sugars, random insulin pump failures and constant monitoring of what I’m eating and how that could possibly affect the rest of my day are all things I would rather not deal with. Having type 1 is not glamorous by any definition of the term. However, this is not another blog post about “what it’s really like to live with type 1 diabetes." If you are curious or interested, I do encourage you to read some of those posts! Type 1 is a complex disease that is worth reading up on if you know someone who has it, are looking to go into the medical field or just want to be more aware.

But I’m here to talk about the energy I’ve spent making my life revolve around something other than my chronic disease, and how thankful I am for the people in my life who genuinely treat me exactly as they would someone who was 100 percent healthy.

I’m lucky to have friends who will shamelessly admit that they sometimes forget I have type 1 at all. Some people would be offended by this, but for me personally, it shows that I’ve done my job. While I, in no way, try to hide the fact that I have type 1 (and won’t think twice about whipping out my insulin pump in the middle of a lecture hall or texting one of my roommates to deliver fruit snacks to my room when my blood sugar is crashing), I have not and I will not ever let my chronic disease become the center of my life.

I want people to know that I have centered my life around my studies and how happy it makes me to know that I have found my passion in what I am studying. I want people to know that I am unapologetically sarcastic and that I have a passionate relationship with Kwik Trip coffee. I want people to know that my study breaks consist mostly of making carefully crafted Spotify playlists and that I hope to someday own an Italian greyhound named William. These are things I want people to think of when they think of me, rather than “that girl with type 1 diabetes."

Yes, I have type 1 diabetes and no, it is not easy. But I’m also just your average 20- year-old trying to get through college by drinking a lot of coffee and consistently overthinking the future.

While raising awareness and drawing attention to the hardships faced by those with chronic illnesses is incredibly important, I think there is a sweet spot between raising awareness and acknowledging that a person is a person, no matter if they have a chronic illness or not. Let’s strive for that sweet spot.