Keen observers may notice an update to the sidebar as of this past weekend as a result of an effort I started a few months ago. I received notification that my blog is now fully HONcode compliant, and now I get a fancy widget indicating said compliance. In the grand scheme of things, this won’t necessarily change the content of what I write on a day-to-day basis. As I’ve always maintained, I’m not a medical professional and I’m not here to give you medical advice on how to live your life with diabetes. What I will continue to do is offer my own perspective on my own diabetes with the utmost transparency.

I could go through each of the principles of the HONcode and elaborate on how I will uphold each bullet point. That when appropriate disclose any funding I receive as a result of these efforts, that I will cite any and all sources related to information from someone much smarter than me (namely, everyone), that I’m sharing my life with diabetes to complement the information you gather on your own, not replace it. That if you ever needed to contact me, and Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Google+, or whatever other social network I inhabit aren’t enough, there’s a link to email chris at tobesugarfree dot com in the header right there for you. But that’s not really necessary, is it? You can trust me.

Of course, there’s no way the me from five years ago would ever see something like this coming. Seriously, look at what this blog looked like when I first got started! But I like to see this as my continuing maturation as a diabetes advocate. Between this, and joining the Walking Gallery, I have a slightly clearer perspective on what I’m meant to do here.

But, I’m not going at this alone. The diabetes community wasn’t built in a day. And it’s more than just one person. Together, we’re going to continue to do great things together.