Freshly diagnosed diabetic...

Hi hi... I'm feeling a little awkward about introducing myself because I am introducing myself as a diabetic (in this forum) and today is the 3rd day since I was diagnosed and I'm still in the phase of "oh yeah, I'm diabetic"... 10 mins. later... "oh yeah, I have diabetes"... 15 mins. later... "omg I have friggin' DIABETES, oh shit". So it's a pretty new label to add to my labels and I'm not quite there yet... still digesting.
Well, I'm a 35 y.o. woman in Canada. My biggest passions in life are my work and cats. I work with kids/teens with special needs. I supervise their home and sometimes get to mentor new caregivers to the field. I find my work extremely fulfilling and it's the main focus in my life. Being single w/o children myself I can put all of my energies into it. Anyways, my 2nd passion is cats. I've limited myself to owning only 2 (it's only fair to them). I'm only mildly affected though... I don't force christmas sweaters on my cats (or any clothing at all in fact), I'm not a super-weirdo or anything. Really.
The Dr. that gave me the news (at a walk-in clinic, I tend to steer clear of medical stuff as much as possible thereby not having my own Dr.) told me the results of my bloodwork, "you're DEFINITELY diabetic, your blood sugar was through the roof!". I'm thinking, wow, you sound kind of excited... should I ask for a prize?! Then I think, OMG he's going to take away my cigarettes, pepsi and after work trips to 7-11. Yeah, he says, "NO SUGAR". Ok, that's cool I can switch to diet pepsi... I'm not really big on sweets anyways... I guess I can force myself to eat at least 3x a day. Meh, big deal. Then he tells me my cholesterol is through the roof too, enough that he is prescribing me medication. Huh? I'm only 35, THIRTY-FIVE!!! They obviously got my blood tests mixed up with some 68 year old! Nope. Now he tells me I need to quit smoking. NEED to.

-prescribed "crestor" 10mg/day
-prescribed "metformin" 500mg/3x daily
-soon to join a diabetes support group @ local pharmacy to obtain a glucometer and learn about diabetes.
-for now just browsing info. and have joined this forum.

This isn't gonna be an easy journey is it guys?

I'm joining this forum because I see honesty and reality here, and also support and encouragement. Someday I hope to offer my own sage advice based on experience and time. For now, I'll poke around here and may ask for yours once in a while.