Lessening the Fight

Like so many others out there, I can't tell you how many times my alarm has gone off in the morning and all I want to do is hit snooze. Lately I've been hit, hit, hitting that button and 'snooze' has gone on for up to another whole hour, which when I stop and think about it, is time which definitely could have been spent much better. If instead of hitting snooze 5-6 times, if I just slept in 15-30minutes longer, I would've got more sleep, still gotten up in time and probably felt much better about myself! But instead, I continue to make myself feel guilty and leave my alarm set way too early for my needs. Just because I used to get up around 5am, doesn't mean that's what my body can cope with at the moment. Diabetes to me, can be as much about the mind as the body. While it is my body that has decided it doesn't want to work properly, it is my mind which chooses how I deal with it, and well I've decided diabetes should have no place for guilt (harder said than done of course!!!)

Diabetes is about being realistic, hands on and straight up about your needs balanced against the rest of your life. While it is important to keep ourselves in check and mentally push ourselves to achieve good results, If you're feeling tired, take a moment to think about why and if it's because your blood sugars weren't so great, you had a tough long day at work, a few extra hard workouts, or a hormonal/emotional change that day (or week!), then they are real elements in your life which will impact your energy levels - and blood sugars!

Be realistic and don't blow these off or make yourself feel bad for making excuses. Sometimes it's as simple as acknowledging the logical truth: We are diabetic. That extra effort, or change has often got to be offset somewhere else, it might mean extra food or sleep, leaving the office early, or taking a mid week break from the gym. So don't be too hard on yourself and let guilt niggle away - life is about balance, and even more so the life of a diabetic, as we don't always just bounce back very easily and lifestyle changes can take time to wear in. Stopping to recognise this will more often than not make you feel better and take lest time out of your daily schedule anyway!

Ps. You're already a champion for pricking, injecting and calculating all day!