A Day in the Life by Rebecca Kelly

A Day in the Life by Rebecca Kelly

A Day in the Life……

What is your typical day like?  For most of us I think it looks something like this….

The morning alarm goes off and we are ready to roll out from under the comfy covers to tackle the day that awaits….”BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”!!! Pump alarm….low sugar!   As the dog is barking, we run to open the door to let poochie out for the morning duties and we grab the glucose tablets.  Cramming a couple in, dog scratching on the door to come back in, time moving on, we stumble to the stove to make some eggs.  “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”!!! Second alarm goes off to remind us of the first alarm….grrrrrr!  Glucose tablets not working fast enough!  We push the buttons and traverse the dog toys to make it down the hall to take a shower.  Bathroom business sometimes wreaks havoc as our waistline gets caught on our pump port and “BAM”!....out comes the port….can you be serious?!?!  Jump in shower, in and out, towel around the hair, back to the kitchen, dig in the medicine cabinet and insert a new port.  The day is already exhausting and it has only been 45 minutes!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!  We have two choices at this point….saddle up and get it done or melt into an oblivion and crawl back under the covers!

Sound familiar?  This has been a “typical” day for me.  Managing diabetes and all the stress that comes with it.  It seems like if something is going to happen, it happens when I need to be somewhere, need to be out the door, and ten million other things need attention as well.   I find many times I am “self commentating” just to get through the chaos….”Yeah, I hear you beeping”, “Yeah, I know my sugar is low”, “Yeah, it figures” all verbally come out of my mouth.  It is important that we acknowledge what we go through and allow ourselves those vulnerable moments so we can mentally deal with the day/events ahead of us.  Some things we can plan ahead for and some things we cannot.  After 20+ years of living with this disease and with all the bells and whistles of technology, it still does not get any easier.  The management of the disease becomes robotic, but the mental and emotional toll can become overwhelming. 

 It is also important for us to find our calm.  What settles our soul and helps us breathe easier?  Sitting outside in the sun with a gentle breeze, listening to a playlist of ocean and nature, going for a barefoot walk to connect and feel grounded, reading a good book.  The key is to be proactive in bringing the “happy” into your physical, mental, and spiritual self to balance the chaos we deal with on the other side.   Being content is the ultimate, more challenging goal.  

“It is common for people to spend too much time working out ways they could be happy, that they forget to focus on the things that already make them feel this way.”  ~relaxlikeaboss.com 

“Feeling contented is having positive vibes across all aspects of your life.” ~ relaxlikeaboss.com 

I know living in these diabetes shoes is hard, more is asked of us in terms of life.  Maybe that’s why we can say we are stronger, we have true grit, we are more resilient, and we rise above.

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