Perfection, Diabetes Don't Mix

By David Spero "I can't do this anymore," a 17-year-old woman named Lia posted here. "I can't control [my glucose]... I know I am responsible for myself, but…I find it extremely hard to do everything…when it is needed. Please help me!" Well, I'd like to help, so I have to ask you all. Do you ever feel that way? Most people with diabetes and other chronic illnesses sometimes do. I know with my multiple sclerosis, I work very hard with diet, exercise, and relaxation to keep my body as functional as possible. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and the days it doesn't can be frustrating and scary. "Yesterday I could walk to the bathroom; today I can't. What did I do wrong?" On those days, I feel like Lia; I want to give up. With diabetes, there are even more opportunities to feel like a failure. As Diana M. Naranjo, PhD, and Korey K. Hood, PhD, wrote here, When a person has diabetes, there are a lot of "things" that must be repeated over and over, such as checking blood glucose levels, administering insulin, and coordinating insulin with food and physical activity. When things aren't going well, it's easy to react like one woman who said, "I feel like I do the same thing over and over again, but we're not getting anywhere." So what do you do with those burned out feelings? How can we avoid them and recover from them? According to Drs. Naranjo and Hood, most important is to avoid trying for perfection. They write, The problem with aiming for perfection is ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs