The Mayo Clinic diabetes educators have a blog I read when they post every week or two. I think they are well-intentioned despite the fact I still sense a condescension vibe from it sometimes. I don’t know why!
Their blog yesterday highlighted how important it is to recognize that taking a “break” from your diabetes care can be important.
I agree.
For me, taking a break from my diabetes care primarily means taking a break from making myself feel badly about not doing enough.
Diabetes is with me for the long haul, and I can’t do it right every day or every week or even every year. It’s going to have its ups and downs, just like the rest of my life.
I just don’t have quite as clear a target range with the rest of my life as I do with my diabetes.
As an example, I was talking to my bootcampers this morning about the clothes we wear. I mentioned that the more I transition away from practicing law and into physical fitness, the more elastic waist pants I wear, and that makes me somewhat nervous. I need to watch my weight because a clue of weight gain for me in the past was how my pants fit!
But whether or not I am comfortable in my jeans depends on my weight and when I washed the jeans. Whether I hit my BG target is right there on that little screen every time I check. It doesn’t take days or weeks to notice: notification I am not in range is right there in front of me several times every day.
And that is indeed hard to live with.
2010 has been a rough year in my personal life this year, and I know my care has suffered along with that. But I can’t feel badly about that: I need to recognize that in the course of my life there will be different patches and my diabetes will have its own corresponding ups and downs too.
Diabetes is always going to be a process more than a project; you know that if you’ve ever done the same thing at the same time and gotten different results. It’s the nature of the disease and the nature of our lives.
So yes, take breaks from what you can take breaks from when it comes to your diabetes. Take smart short breaks from eating the best you can, take smart breaks from a midnight check now and then. Take a break from making yourself feel badly about your best not being someone else’s “good enough.”
Take breaks, forgive yourself, but don’t ever stop. You’re worth much more than that!
