How to Develop a Positive Attitude with Diabetes

Developing a positive attitude is one of the most important things you can do, and it may be difficult to accomplish if you live and work in a highly stressful environment. So much of life is stressful that you have to concentrate on making your own private sphere as unstressful as possible. There are a number of ways to do this.

  • Think about what you have control over and what you do not, and try to pay little or no attention to what you cannot control. For instance, if the shenanigans of the politicians in your city or state make you gnash your teeth, and you have no interest in becoming active in politics, don’t read about them in the newspaper. If the murder rate is going up in your area, take reasonable precautions when you go out, but don’t watch the blood and gore on the local news.
  • Remember that you will not have total control over your dia­betes all the time. It is by nature an unpredictable disease, and the best you can do is do your best. Once you learn and inter­nalize this, you can stop feeling guilty and stressed out every time your blood glucose does something it’s not “supposed” to.

Positive Attitude

  • If you socialize with people you don’t like or who are not con­genial to be with, drop them. You needn’t do it with insults; you don’t even need to announce your intentions. Simply be unavailable when they call. There are enough unpleasant peo­ple in your life that you cannot drop (co-workers, grocery store clerks, family members); why should you voluntarily subject yourself to the stress of choosing to be with people you dislike?
  • If your marriage or partnership is not as happy as you would like it to be, do something about it. Don’t believe that you have to suffer through another twenty or thirty years of misery. Talk honestly about your feelings to your partner, get into couple’s counseling, or get out of the relationship.
  • Try to increase your intuition and self-awareness and learn to identify what makes you happy and what does not. This re­quires conscious thought and a good deal of mental and emo­tional effort. I often practice it when I go for my walk. It’s forty-five minutes of uninterrupted peace and quiet when I can devote myself entirely to myself.
  • Learn to manage your own life. This is not to say that you should not develop close relationships with other people, and it is not to say that you should not allow other people to help you when you need it. But you, and only you, are responsible for the conduct of your own life—and the management and control of your diabetes.
  • Recognize that there are choices to be made in every aspect of life. Too many people stay in jobs they hate or remain in unsat­isfactory human relationships because they believe they have no choice in the matter. This is not true. Making choices and changes is often difficult and stressful, but in the long run, it is almost always less stressful than remaining in bad situations.
  • Set short- and long-term goals in life that are realistic and achievable. Forcing yourself to do things that are impossible, pointless, or unnecessary is extremely stressful. You will proba­bly never achieve the goal and will drive yourself crazy trying.
  • Develop your sense of humor and laugh as much as you can. So much of life is absurd; try to see it.
  • Become a volunteer and help others. Work for the homeless, volunteer at an animal shelter, read to nursing-home patients, participate in your local Meals on Wheels program, or tutor a child. It doesn’t matter what it is, but do something for others.