Mantras and More – What Gets you Through a Tough Diabetes Day

I was out for a lot of cycling today (4 rides!), so I had little time to prep this.  I feel terrible because I haven’t read any of yesterdays posts, so if you are reading this – I’m sorry, I’ll get around to reading the Wednesday posts soon!

So for today I have three things that get me through a tough diabetes day.

I am not alone

While it’s only been recent that I’ve gotten involved in local and online diabetes community, I have never felt alone in this disease.  Anytime I’m stressed, ticked off, angry, whatever – I know I have my wonderful wife, my type 3 to rely on.  So how do I get through a tough diabetes day – I sound off to her.  She may have a fully functioning pancreas, but she’s listened and learned so much of what I do that she can suggest and help me through, and listen when I’m in a D-rage.  Thanks Meg, you’re the best!  She get’s me through a D-day.  Having family support is so important, and I hope each and every one of my readers has someone like this they can fall back on.  If not, you have the diabetes online community – remember, you are not alone.

My wonderful Type 3 wife. Nothing like a mid-air kiss.

And a special shout out to the other creatures who remind me I am not alone and to not take life too seriously – our fur kids.  Molly and Gus, and we’ve just recently added Winston to our pack.  They are my unsung d-support heroes.

Hiking with Molly and Gus

Winston, our senior rescue dog, and latest diabetes cheerleader. Welcome to the family dude.

 

My second mantra which I’m trying really hard to practice is:

You are more than a number

Yesterday I posted about holding myself to tough standards.  Well, in prepping for this post, I realized that I need to take a step back.  I was re-reading “The Rock Warriors Way” and I stumbled onto this quote:

In both success and failure anxiety, you lose focus.  By over-valuing the outcome and under valuing the process, you focus on the destination.

Basically, I’m worrying too much about one simple test and not focusing on how positive my life has changed, and how much my quality of life has improved.  This made me go “Woah” today.  A light bulb went off.  It’s very hard for me, being an engineer, to not focus on each blood glucose number and scrutinize it and be a lunatic about it.  Now that’s not an excuse to forget the value of each test, but rather in order to be “more than a number”, I need to take a step back, digest the number as data, learn from it, but not lose sight of the bigger picture.  To get through a tough D-day I need to remember that I am more than just a number.

View from a morning run – this is why I do it!

I am in control

My final mantra may seem counter intuitive when I’m having a tough diabetes day and it feels like everything is spiralling out of control.  I remind myself that, in the grand scheme of things, I have more control now than I ever did.  I choose to wake up early to exercise.  I choose to count my carbohydrates, my protein, and bolus accordingly.  I choose to wear a CGM and be vigilant with the results.  I choose my weight goals.  The fact that I am having a tough D-day is because everything isn’t working out according to plan.  So I remind myself that I better for it, and while I may not seem like I have control in the moment, I am doing better overall.  If I can be happy with my progress, then I am in control.