Take my stress... No - please!

Day two of #DBlogWeek...
Tuesday's Prompt: We think a lot about the physical component of diabetes, but the mental component is just as significant. How does diabetes affect you or your loved one mentally or emotionally? How have you learned to deal with the mental aspect of the condition? Any tips, positive phrases, mantras, or ideas to share on getting out of a diabetes funk? (If you are a caregiver to a person with diabetes, write about yourself or your loved one or both!)

As is obvious to anyone with diabetes for longer than a week, or maybe less, diabetes introduces a whole other level of stress into your life. I actually did NOT understand this until well into adulthood when someone had me explain what I do each day to manage diabetes, and she said - WHAT??!! in horror. I guess I really don't think about what I have to do sometimes. It's been 45 years - most of it is routine at this point. Especially when wearing the Dexcom and pump. I've never felt that diabetes caused my depression, but it certainly is a few extra straws. I talked about it with my psych one day, how I always felt like I had too many balls up in the air and was just waiting to drop one, and wondering/worrying which ball it would be.

Turns out - what I need to do periodically is to look at all the shiny colorful balls and choose which one is less important for a while and let that one drop when needed. Sometimes it's housework (ok a lot of times :P ), sometimes it's being social (that one a little too much dropped) and sometimes I get a little lax on diabetes. We're not talking drop the balls entirely - just not looking at my Dex every half hour and just letting it alarm at me if needed.

As for my life partner, husband and love of my life, the stress inherent in taking care of my diabetes certainly shows in him. He's an active partner, pointing out when he thinks I might be low when I'm babbling on for no apparent reason, reminding me to bring my supplies when going on a walk around the neighborhood and running to grab OJ when needed. He wants to take my worries for me, sweet thing. He can't really do that, but it is really nice to have a little bit of a safety net, rather than to be alone as I was for my first 34 years of life and 31.5 years of diabetes. I am truly blessed to have him in my life.

My other means of escaping the "diabetes funk" we all  go thru from time to time... All of you - My D-Friends. The sharing we all do together is my other lifeline - We are not alone. Everyone's journey is different, and we all travel the road in our own way, but we can travel with friends, and share our successes and failures and that, my friends, is what the DOC is all about.