Life vs Diabetes

"Oldest and Youngest, Beautiful......"

We all know that "good" diabetes management takes a lot of effort and devotion to be effective. But we also know that all life's successes also require our devotion, our mental energy and basically our time. The trick lies in balancing the two areas successfully.

Life is full of change, un-imposed and imposed.  Diabetes is inevitable and also full of change. We can't turn our mind off when it comes to managing diabetes. Life is similar, we have to pay attention or life spirals out of control, we miss appointments, fall behind in the daily chores of life. The trick is balance, we know this, but my god this is not an easy task and I notice that when life gets crazy, out of control and overwhelming, my diabetes tends to loose its place in the balance of things. Basically diabetes fails to be my priority compared to life's commitments.

I see this in my self and most diabetics I meet. My 15 year old Type one would rather fit in socially at lunch then test and take insulin. I would rather just grab some take out, eat it, then take my shot of insulin after the fact. Why, because life, the social pressures, the time constraints take precedent over this thing called diabetes.

If I am happy, positive and feeling good about life, then I am highly motivated to take care of my body. This includes exercise, sleep, food, and diabetes management. If I'm in a low mood; the opposite effect occurs. For this post I guess I'm just "thinking" out loud, venting, so to speak.

I was on a flight to visit my home town a few weeks back. During the safety video, when the oxygen mask falls and the passenger places it on them selves first then the child I thought of this post. We need to make diabetes the first choice, as difficult as this is. Otherwise we get sick;  we damage our bodies, and life spirals even quicker out of control like a plane loosing altitude. If  we don't take care of our health, then we are useless to everyone else in our life.

Trev