Managing Stress
Stress is a fact of life when you have diabetes. That's because taking care of your diabetes is a 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year job, filled with responsibilities and concerns. So finding good ways to manage the emotional side of diabetes is crucial. To take good care of your diabetes, you must protect yourself from feeling overwhelmed. When you successfully manage the emotional side of diabetes, you are building a solid foundation for effective self-care. There are two keys to success: first, effectively solving problems; and second, finding ways to manage stress and maintain a positive perspective.
Here Are Some Tips:
Identify Diabetes-related Sources Of Stress In Your Life. Try to start with the thing that's bothering you most, and be as specific as possible in describing it to yourself. Maybe your biggest stress is a common one like testing your blood and seeing high readings.
Identify What You Say To Yourself At These Stressful Times. Self-talk is powerful. Do you say things to yourself like, "What did I do wrong this time?" Or, "I'll never be able to control my blood sugars; why should I bother testing?" Of course it's upsetting to see a high reading, but this kind of self-talk can make you feel even more stressed. Negative thoughts trigger a downward spiral: they drain your motivation and make it harder to take good care of yourself and to maintain good blood sugar control, which can cause even more negative thoughts.
Identify What You Would Like To Say To Yourself. If negative, critical thoughts trigger a downward spiral, it stands to reason that positive thoughts can move you in the opposite direction. Thinking positively takes effort, but the payoff can be great. Start by identifying what you would like to say to yourself when you are feeling stressed. For example, “I'm high and I hate that, but let me see if I can figure out why and do something about it. Looking forward makes a lot more sense than looking backward.”
Write Down Your Positive Thoughts. Once you've identified a thought or two that you think might help, write them down so you can refer to them when you need to. These thoughts can serve as a life belt keeping you afloat at times when you are feeling stressed out.
Practice Your Positive Thoughts. Maintaining a good emotional balance takes lots of practice. Uncomfortable as negative thoughts may be, you may find yourself slipping back to them unless you keep working to remain positive. Of course you'll have negative thoughts sometimes, but the trick is to recognize these negative thoughts and try to switch to a positive mindset as quickly as possible.
Pay Attention To The Results. Building and maintaining a strong emotional foundation for your life should make a big difference. Keep track of the benefits you gain from thinking positively and keep them in mind as well. This will provide added fuel for your efforts.