How Your Attitude Affects Your Diabetes.

What is attitude? We know it when we hear it, we know it when we see it. And there are lots of different definitions for it in the dictionary. But one is "a tendency or orientation, especially of mind."

I have been reading this book, "Open : An Autobiography" by Andre Agassi. I'm not a tennis freak. I don't even know that much about tennis, but as I'm reading this autobiography, there are a lot of things in here.

This man didn't choose tennis per se. He was pretty much forced into it by his father at a very young age. And in several points through the book where people have talked to him, he will say, I hate tennis. And they say, no, no, no, really you love tennis, don't you?

NO! I hate it! He says that quite often, and there are lots of reasons for him to hate it. I don't think he hates "it" so much, but all the things that are attached to it. My opinion.

And so he has had a very up and down career, lots of losses, lots of wins and so on.

It made me wonder how much impact that intense hatred for tennis impacted his successes or losses.

What is your attitude about your diabetes? Is it, oh, crap. I can't believe I have this. I hate this? A negative attitude?

Or, oh my God! I'm so scared. What's going to happen. I don't think I can do this. I've got to keep track of all these numbers. I've got to stick myself. I've got blood everywhere.

What is your attitude?

Perhaps is it angry?

So fearful, angry or scared.

These emotions can really in any circumstance, but particularly when now you need to step up and take care of yourself in a different way, can be a brick wall. Like, boom!

Let me ask you this question. What if you shifted your attitude? What if you changed your attitude about your diabetes?

The reason I ask this question is because I've read stories about people who have MS, they have Parkinson's, they've had a horrible accident and they've been paralyzed from the waist down, or they've lost limbs or whatever it is. Some very tragic, horrible thing happened to them.

And they say this: It's the best thing that ever happened to me.

And why is that? Maybe it's because it's given them a different outlook on life. Like, what is life really about?

So what if you shifted your attitude about your diabetes? What if the first thing you did was accept it? Yup, I got it!

And whether I'm angry or scared or fearful or whatever, I have it.

And I can tell you that when I've been in situations like this, when I have been very upset about something that's happened to me, I get that resistance and I don't want to deal with it. I don't want to handle it. I hate it.

But when I accept the situation and just, go okay, I get it, this is it. I'm surprised at how much weight falls away from me. And I kind of surrender to it. like 'Okay. I give.' I'm going to surrender. I'm going to do what I need to do.

What if you actually embraced diabetes? I don't want to lose any limbs. I don't want to lose my eyesight. I don't want to have to live within these very restrictive rules. I certainly don't want to have to inject myself with insulin.

What if I said, okay, I embrace this so that this is the kick in the pants I need to make changes in my life. I've seen patients do this when they've really had a big scare.

They come to my office and they're like, yup, I'm ready to do whatever it takes. And they do it until they start to feel a little better. And then they tend to fall off and go back to what they were doing before.

You have to decide for yourself what an attitude shift looks like for you. How would that change? How you look at your diabetes. How you look at yourself. How you look at what you are willing to do for your own life. For your own peace of mind,

How would that feel?

What would you do differently?

If you have a question about your diabetes, I would be happy to work with you. If you want to take advantage of a free health chat, you can get on my calendar and we can talk for 20 minutes or so, and I'll see how I can help you. Click here to schedule.

Thank you so much for listening.

Dr. Elaine

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This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.